


My Precious

by CQueen



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Former Bad Breakup, Frodo is their KID, Gollum is a stalking serial killer, Implied Mpreg, M/M, Parent-Child Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-04
Updated: 2015-08-21
Packaged: 2018-01-18 04:06:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 55,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1414468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CQueen/pseuds/CQueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Modern Setting.   Due to an epic breakup years ago, the only contact Thorin and Bilbo have with each other is a result of their four year old son Frodo.  Or so they'd tell you if you asked.</p><p>Then Bilbo makes the mistake of going on a date with this guy he met online, who turns out to be a crazy serial killer...and suddenly Thorin isn't looking so bad in comparison.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Bad Beginning

A Bad Beginning

Bilbo Baggins had a date and wasn't happy about it. It had been a very long day, he could feel a headache brewing, and going out to meet some guy he'd met on the internet didn't really sound all that appealing. Because really, if he was going to have a whole night without his son around to require his attention, well then he'd much rather spend it curled up with some hot chocolate in front of the telly, watch an adult movie for once or maybe read a book just for fun instead. For that matter there were a lot of things you didn't have time to do when you had a four year old running around the house, even one as well behaved as his Frodo.

Thank God the boy took after his side of the family that way.

Shaking his head over the thought, Bilbo didn't even want to think about what his life would be like if Frodo was more like his teenage cousins Fili and Kili, who found trouble with remarkable skill wherever they went. Not that Thorin's nephews weren't sweet boys, they were at heart, but…they could also drive a saint to drink and he didn't know how their mother managed to stay sane.

Thinking about them had Bilbo retrieving another plastic container out of a cupboard and turning his attention to transferring some of the Nanaimo bars he'd made for Frodo to take with him to his papa's into the second container for the two to drop off at his aunt's. It would be pure torture for Thorin to do it too, Bilbo thought with wicked glee, imagining the look on his ex's face when he was forced to share. The man loved his Nanaimo bars, and back when they'd been together the man had offered him all sorts of sexual favors in return for a batch of his-dammit.

Wincing, especially since thinking about Thorin and sex at the same time was never a good idea when he was in a sex drought, Bilbo resolutely snapped the container's lid on and put it on top of the larger container that was for Thorin.

Not that he'd gone out of his way to make the man's favorite dessert or anything, and it wasn't like he needed to bribe Thorin to take Frodo since the man loved their son as much as he did…he'd just been in the mood to make them and-

"Daddy, I can't find my new blue shirt."

Looking over at his son Bilbo smiled and assured the little boy that they would find it together, ruffling Frodo's pitch black curls to make him giggle. Hand in hand they headed up the stairs, Frodo obviously wired at the thought that he was going to get to spend a whole day with his papa. It was at times like this that Bilbo felt insanely guilty over the fact that Frodo had never known what it was to live with both his parents. He hadn't even known he was pregnant when he and Thorin had split up, and things had been so nasty between them that Frodo had been three months old before he'd finally gone to his ex to inform him that he was a father.

To say Thorin had hit the roof over the news was like saying the man's friend Bombur might need to go on a diet.

But it had been Thorin's fault they'd broken up in the first place, and the stubborn arse had said he never wanted to see him again, so to this day Bilbo still thought his decision to keep mum about the whole thing until after there was no chance of miscarrying from stress had been the wisest choice.

Feeling another lance of pain, nothing amped up one of his headaches like thinking about the biggest life headache he'd had to date, Bilbo sighed and wished again, for the billionth time, that he hadn't let himself be roped into promising his friend Hamish that he would go on at least one date before the month ended. And it was the thirtieth, so…he was stuck.

Plus if he backed out on the whole thing Thorin would find out somehow, and then his ex would make some crack that would have them fighting like two wet cats in a sack and that wasn't good for Frodo. Not that Thorin was doing any better than him when it came to dating, at least according to what he'd picked up from Frodo and conversations with mutual friends, but then that had always been Thorin's problem. Married to his precious company, Erebor always coming first, second and third in Thorin's books unless you were talking about Frodo, who was the apple of his father's eye.

And yeah, Bilbo was still bitter he hadn't been able to compete with the man's stupid company. A little.

Okay, maybe a lot.

"Are you okay, Daddy? You've got a weird face on."

"I'm fine, Darling. Just thinking about how much I'll miss you when you're at your Papa's."

Pleased to hear it Frodo pointed out that his daddy could just come with him and they could all have a pizza and video game night at papa's. He was sure papa wouldn't mind.

"Not tonight, Darling. Maybe some other time."

)

Keeping his eyes peeled for small children, pets, and people who didn't have the sense to look where they were going, Thorin Durin drove through the heavily residential area with a smile on his face. It had been far too long since he'd seen his son and brief phone calls and quick meals were hardly adequate, especially when his boy didn't even live with him part time. But Bilbo had made it clear he'd fight him tooth and nail if he even thought of petitioning for joint custody of Frodo, and even he had to admit that he understood his ex's reasoning there. Someone as young as his Frodo needed a solid base and routine, something he couldn't offer with his often crazy work schedule. Bilbo worked from home and set his own hours, currently keeping his workload light enough that he never had to miss some preschool event or wasn't there to nurse Frodo back to health when their boy was sick.

And thinking about his ex on top of the fact that he certainly was never going to win father of the year was too depressing for words. Things were a lot better between them these days, mostly because they'd called a ceasefire for their son's sake and made a deliberate point to only talk about Frodo or ordinary things, but it was still a strain to be around Bilbo even at the best of times. Especially at the best of times, actually, because then his treacherous mind couldn't help but think that this was the life they could have had together with their son if things hadn't all gone to hell in a bloody basket on them.

But facts were facts, and some old wounds never healed, it seemed.

Pulling up beside the small house Bilbo had bought when Frodo had been two, the stubborn man had refused to let him buy the two something bigger and in a better neighborhood, Thorin nodded in greeting when the front door opened and Bilbo stepped out, not even giving him the chance to get out of his car and greet him properly first. As per usual.

And then there was Frodo, all but bouncing with glee, and Thorin felt his smile return, love for his son overshadowing every other thought. Because whatever pain he and Bilbo had caused each other, and they'd done some serious damage, one thing they'd always agreed on was that Frodo was worth every minute they'd spent fighting.

While Frodo ran over to open the back door to throw his back pack in and then climb in after it, Bilbo walked over to the driver's side, Thorin rolling down the window to see what parent orders the other man had to give him before they could head back to his place.

And then Bilbo was holding two containers towards him and Thorin saw what was in them, the blue eyes he'd passed on to their son immediately brightening. Taking them Thorin asked why he was being bribed, more than happy to fall in line if it got him these. It had been forever since he'd had them.

"You aren't. The top one's for Dis and the boys. The rest, I just felt like making them and I thought you'd be happy to take some off my hands so that Frodo and I don't eat them all."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"So who's your date with? Anyone I know?" Bilbo had texted him three days ago asking if he could take Frodo because he had a date, but that was all the info he'd gotten. Not that he would care who his ex was dating normally, but he had to take an interest since anyone Bilbo dated came into contact with Frodo. You could never be too careful these days after all, and he was just looking out for his son.

"No one you know, no. He's a regular on Middle Earth."

Thorin knew that Middle Earth was an online RPG that Bilbo had helped some friends of his create in university, and the other man still played it occasionally and gave his friends feedback and suggestions. And though he was pretty sure Bilbo had more sense Thorin asked him if he'd met this guy in person before.

"This will be the first meeting, actually."

"Are you out of your-" Thorin just barely managed to cut himself off in mid roar due to Frodo's presence, the boy having stopped in the middle of doing up the buckles on his car seat to blink at them owlishly. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?" He all but hissed in his struggle not to yell.

"We're meeting in a public place, Thorin, and it's just dinner. I'll be fine."

Hundreds of arguments, orders and demands welled up on the tip of his tongue, Thorin having to swallow them all down not just because of Frodo's presence, but because he knew damn well that Bilbo would do the opposite of what he wanted him to just to spite him if he put his ex's back up too much. So in the end he had to settle for asking, through grinched teeth and as politely as possible, for Bilbo to at least call him when he got home so that he'd know he'd gotten back okay.

Thorin could see that Bilbo wanted to argue, but Frodo being there worked in his favor this time since naturally Bilbo wanted to head off the argument that would brew if he didn't agree to make the phone call. So he did, sounding very exasperated as he promised.

Knowing that he'd have to be satisfied with that, Thorin thanked him for the consideration only a little sarcastically and then stated they should be heading out, his nephews were waiting for them in the game room.

"Bye, bye, Daddy!"

"Bye, Darling. You be good for your papa, alright?"

"I will."

"That's my boy. Have a good night, Thorin. I'll remember to call before turning in."

"Have a good night." He echoed, though he'd be just fine if this date tanked the way Bilbo's generally did.

)

He really, really should have canceled this date, Bilbo thought hours later as he tried not to look completely and totally repulsed by the man who was sitting across from him, watching him with eyes that made his skin crawl. Of course he hadn't exactly been thrilled to find out that the picture he'd been sent of the guy was far from accurate, the man before him bald instead of with shoulder length black hair, his cheekbones far more prominent and pale as a ghost instead of lightly tanned. But no, it was Sméagol Stoor's eyes that unnerved him the most and reminded Bilbo of every article he'd ever read in the paper or heard on the news about people who'd ended up dead or kidnapped by human traffickers after meeting with someone they'd met online.

Plus the way the other man had kept urging him to sample the pre-poured wine earlier, when he'd arrived to find his date already waiting for him, made him suspicious as hell now, not to mention very glad he'd felt the need to take the pills his doctor prescribed him for his worst headaches, which didn't mix well with alcohol so his glass remained untouched. He was tempted to come up with some excuse to leave, like feigning illness or pretending to receive a text that his son was sick and he needed to head home, but he couldn't shake the fact that Stoor was too observant not to see through a lie.

Hoping to make time go by faster Bilbo struggled to find something to talk about, settling for the first thing that came to mind seeing as the man kept drawing his attention to it anyway. "That's a lovely ring you're wearing. A family heirloom?"

"It's my precious." Was the creepy creep's response, the smile revealing once again that the man's dental hygiene was bad even for a Brit. "I-got it from my cousin a few years back. I never take it off."

"Ah. Well it's lovely. Family's very important."

"Thank you."

The smile on Stoor's face was more unnerving than a glare from Thorin in Bilbo's opinion, and that was really saying something.

"Speaking of family, you have a son, don't you? Someone mentioned it while we were on a quest together on 'Middle Earth'."

"Yes, I do. He's four. He's with his father tonight-which is why I won't be able to stay too late, I'm afraid. I have to pick him up." And he really didn't like the idea of this creep knowing about Frodo at all, but he wasn't above using Thorin, especially since he was beginning to think the man hadn't been wrong to call him crazy for making a date with someone he'd met online. "He's expecting me at nine, maybe you've heard of him? Thorin Durin?"

"The president of Erebor, of course. Who hasn't?"

"Yes, he's still cursing the fact that he keeps being named one of London's most eligible bachelors." What went unsaid was that everyone knew Thorin had also been in the military, had an impressive as hell physique, and was known to be insanely possessive and protective of people and things that belonged to him. Which meant that if this guy had any brains at all, which Bilbo thought he did, his creepy date from hell had to realize that going crazy on him would have Thorin coming after him like a hound from hell because of Frodo.

Hopefully that his point had been made, and he was not discussing his son with this guy, Bilbo asked Sméagol how he'd gotten into the business of designing puzzle books, which was what the other man had told him he did for a living.

But try as he might the conversation kept coming back to his own personal life, and finally Bilbo gave up and excused himself to go to the loo, pulling out his cell once he was out of sight to text Thorin a message asking him to call him in about ten minutes to pretend that he needed him to come pick up Frodo. He was a horrible liar, Bilbo thought as he grudgingly hit send, so every bit of authenticity he could conjure up would help.

He'd just finished in the loo and washed his hands when his phone went off, which was perfect timing and had him sighing in relief. Pulling the phone out Bilbo accessed the message from Thorin, which demanded to know if he needed to come and get him.

Rolling his eyes even as he smiled a little, Bilbo texted back that he was fine, it was just a bad date and he wanted to get out of it.

Thorin's reply was a statement that yes, he was a horrible liar.

'Thanks for that. I'm going back to the table now'.

'Understood'.

Putting his phone away Bilbo braced himself for another dose of creepiness, making his way back to the table and doing his level best to act like he didn't want to do a happy dance when his phone went off.

"Oh, darn. My sincere apologies, I'm horrible with electronics. I thought I'd turned it to silent before I got in." Taking the phone out Bilbo deliberately glanced at the front. "And double apologies, but it's Thorin, so I need to take this. It might be about Frodo." Accepting the call and then bringing it up to his ear, Bilbo hoped he didn't sound too glad when he asked Thorin what he could do for him.

"Well for starters, you could not date arseholes you've picked up on the bloody internet."

"Drat, I was afraid of that. He did seem a little off before you picked him up. How high's his temperature?"

"Dis and the boys say thanks for the bars, before I forget. And how long are you going to drag this conversation on for, anyway?"

"Okay, fine, I get it. I'll head out now and be there in twenty minutes. Just keep an eye on him and call me if anything changes."

"Don't forget to call when you get back to your place or I'll tan your freckled arse tomorrow."

Clicking off his phone Bilbo didn't have to work at looking annoyed and frustrated. "Looks like I have to apologize yet again, I'm afraid I have to run. My son's sick and Thorin goes to absolute pieces when that happens. Of course he's also the biggest baby when HE'S sick but-sorry, again." Getting to his feet Bilbo retrieved his wallet and pulled out a bunch of bills. "Dinner's on me, and thank you again for asking me out this evening. I'm sorry we had to cut it short."

"No need to pay, you hardly touched your dinner." Scary smile again. "I've got this; I hope we'll be seeing each other again. Soon."

Not if he had anything to say about it, Bilbo thought with a strained smile in return.

Surely he couldn't be that unlucky.


	2. Protective Parents

Protective Parents

A little over a week after his no good, very bad date, Bilbo had decided that he was never, ever going to date anyone he met online ever again. Unless it was Russell Crowe, Gerard Butler, or Richard Armitage. He'd make exceptions there, but no one else. And no one who played RPGs or was bald. He was off bald men for life. He was literally so traumatized by the whole thing that he was starting to get an upset stomach every time he so much as saw a man without hair. The creepy feeling he'd gotten from his date was still hanging around too, so that he sometimes felt like he was being watched and his sleeping patterns were currently shot to hell. So yeah, been there, done that, never again.

Which was why he was stocking up on Heavenly Hash ice cream as he and Frodo made their way through their neighborhood grocer's that Tuesday morning. Ice cream was a poor substitute for a decent shag, but at this point he was more than willing to settle.

Speaking of Frodo…what was taking the boy so long? Probably gazing at all the candy also on display in the aisle that housed his son's favorite biscuits, Bilbo surmised with an indulgent smile, which was where Frodo had gone off to, to retrieve them since he liked to get his 'own' groceries himself.

Continuing down his aisle Bilbo had just reached for a package of frozen peas when he heard the sound of little feet running, which had him looking up and over with the intention of reminding his son that he wasn't supposed to run in the shop. Or that was his intention right up until the boy all but barreled into him, squeezing between him and the cart.

"Frodo! What on earth?"

Wrapping one arm around his daddy, his other cradled his biscuits protectively against his chest, Frodo craned his neck back to see his daddy's face properly. "There's a scary person over there."

Immediately going into overprotective parent mode, especially since he'd been so recently reminded of the evils that lived in men, Bilbo's fingers clenched into fists as he demanded to know if the scary person had hurt Frodo.

Frodo shook his head. "He try to give me candy. I said no. He was too scary."

Eyes still flashing with the intent to tear to shreds anyone who messed with his kid, Bilbo lifted Frodo up and put him in the cart, and then he pushed it in the direction of the treats aisle, no scary person there when he arrived to confront the man.

Annoyed, but also relieved since he'd had to bring Frodo with him, Bilbo shook his head and then pointed out to his son that the scary person was gone.

Looking around Frodo nodded in agreement, obviously relieved.

The man was gone, yes, but Bilbo's thoughts couldn't help but turn to the fact that there were other kids in the store besides Frodo. Little ones who might not have the same instincts as Frodo when it came to judging people, or the knowledge that taking things from strangers wasn't a good idea. He knew the owner of the place, maybe he should hunt him up and say something.

"Frodo, what did the scary man look like?" That could be important. "Did he have hair like yours or mine? Was he very tall or short?"

The little boy's face scrunched up in concentration. "No hair, and he was like you. He didn't have any muscles like Papa, he was real skinny. His teeth were pointy, and he doesn't brush. Good boys brush."

Paling, the description all too familiar and sending chills down his spine, Bilbo wasn't even aware of how tightly he was gripping the cart's handle until he let go and felt the ache. And though he wanted to believe it was a coincidence, and maybe it actually was, Bilbo sure as hell wasn't going to bet his son's wellbeing on it.

Saying a mental to hell with his other planned purchases, Bilbo directed the cart towards the front of the shop and moving it off to the side picked up Frodo, placed him on his hip, and then went over to the owner of the store, who was thankfully stocking at the moment and had time to chat. Quickly Bilbo explained what had happened in the aisle, and his worry that it might have been an unpleasant person he'd met a week before that he thought might be dangerous. Naturally the owner was just as upset and he left them briefly to look over his shop himself for signs of the man, though he didn't find any which was of some relief. When Bilbo asked about security cameras the owner showed him to the back room where they could review the feed, the images of the 'scary man' not clear enough for Bilbo to make a positive ID. But the owner was willing to give him a copy when he asked anyway, asking him what he would do with it since he doubted the guarda would be able to do much with what they had.

"I'm going to give it to Thorin." Was Bilbo's cool response. "And then I'm going to sic him on this guy."

)

Coming out of the conference room, talking to his company's lawyers never a pleasant way to spend a couple hours, Thorin took one look at the expression on his assistant's face and knew that something was up. He couldn't tell if she had good or bad news for him though, and so he approached with trepidation, even more when he saw through the glass that Dwalin, his chief of security, was in his office even though they didn't have a meeting scheduled.

"Alright, what's going on?"

"Your-ah-Mr. Baggins called and asked for some of your time. He should be here in about five minutes and he's bringing Frodo." That at least would make her boss happy. Meetings with Mr. Baggins generally didn't, though that hadn't been the case originally. Either way she figured this meeting would be better than most since Frodo would be around to keep his parents in line. Though why Dwalin was here...

Asking her precisely that question, Thorin frowned when she couldn't give him an answer. Just that Bilbo had called the other man too and asked him to come.

Bilbo and Dwalin had gotten along reasonably well back in the day, a talent of his ex's, but the two weren't that friendly and Dwalin was not a good choice for a referee. And even if he was Bilbo didn't like having an audience when they fought. Of course they didn't fight around Frodo either, so yeah, Thorin was completely at sea as to what Bilbo could be up to or planning.

That being the case he opted to head into his office to ask Dwalin what he knew, which was no more than his assistant had. Apparently Bilbo had asked him to meet him here, but had refused to go into any detail since he only wanted to explain things once.

Thankfully they didn't have long to wait, Frodo coming at a run around the corner wearing adorable overalls with a cartoon cat's face on the front, with Bilbo not far behind in what the man thought of as casual wear. He looked better and more professional than Thorin did in his business attire, but he was fine with that since he hated suits as much as Bilbo seemed to love them.

"PAPA!"

Getting out of his chair Thorin scooped his son up and smiled at the smacking kiss he was given. "Hey, You." Rubbing Frodo's back Thorin turned his attention to Bilbo. "This is a surprise."

"I need to talk to you." Bilbo's voice was all business. "Frodo, I need you to go wait with your papa's assistant. Sit quietly in one of the chairs and when your papa and I are done talking you can come in and talk to him too."

"Wanna stay with Papa." Stubbornly Frodo tightened his arms around Thorin's neck.

Naturally he wanted to keep Frodo right where he was, but Thorin didn't miss the look Bilbo was giving him, nor could he ignore the feeling he was getting in his gut that said something was up that he needed to deal with. So with regret he informed Frodo that he better do as his daddy said. No one was more stubborn than Bilbo.

"Nah ah." Frodo shook his head. "You're worse, Papa."

Struggling to hide his amusement Bilbo pulled out his ultimate parenting voice. "Frodo, I need you to go wait for us. Now."

Both Thorin and Frodo knowing that tone well, the former setting the latter back on his feet, Frodo dragging them all the way to the office door. And just to make his feelings clear the boy looked back at them once he'd reached the door, giving them his best puppy dog eyes before sighing dramatically.

Shaking his head Bilbo closed the door behind the boy.

"It's a wonder he doesn't have ya both wrapped around his little fingers, eyes like that." Shaking his head Dwalin felt awful for not letting the boy stay, and he wasn't even the one who'd told the lad he had to go.

"It's not easy." Thorin told him wryly before looking over at Bilbo, his eyes hardening a little. "Why did you bring him, if he has to stay outside?"

"Because he's safe outside. And don't start yelling at me, Thorin, especially since I haven't even told you why you have just cause to yell at me. This will go a lot faster and easier if you just let me start from the beginning to catch Dwalin up, and then I'll explain why we're here."

When both men nodded Bilbo took a seat, Dwalin retaking his and Thorin leaning back against his desk, motioning for Bilbo to go ahead.

"Thank you. So to begin I went on a date last week that I ended abruptly, with Thorin's help, by having him phone me and pretend Frodo was sick. You asked me about him when I called you from the house, and I lied about why I wanted out of it. The truth is…he scared the hell out of me."

Thorin was practically a blur as he took the couple strides necessary to reach Bilbo, reaching out to cup Bilbo's cheek and tilt the man's head up so that their eyes met as he demanded to know if the bastard had put his hands on him.

"No. No." In a move that was habit, the nostalgia of where they were kicking in, Bilbo lifted a hand to place it over Thorin's. "He didn't. It was his-well everything about him really, but his eyes in particular. I always thought Azog's eyes were the worst, you could see just how much pleasure he took in crushing people just for fun, but this man…I don't think he's altogether sane."

Coming to the most logical conclusion, Dwalin stated that the man was bothering him, wasn't he?

"He emailed me a few times, trying to reschedule our date, asking how Frodo was but I put him off and then in my last response, which would have been Thursday, I told him I wasn't interested and I blocked him online. I thought that would be the end of it."

Biting back a variety of curses Thorin demanded to know what had happened.

"The whole thing creeped me out, so when I felt like I was being watched I just thought it was me being paranoid and freaking myself out. But then today…" Bilbo swallowed hard. "Frodo went to get his biscuits at the grocer's, and when he came back he said a scary man tried to give him candy. I asked him what the man looked like and I think…I think it was him. I think he either followed us or knows where we live and he tried to get near Frodo."

Now Thorin let loose with the swearing, in several different languages, as he let Bilbo go so that he could stomp around his office space, unable to stay still. Moving didn't help though, his brain refusing not to formulate mental images of what could have happened to Bilbo and his son if both hadn't been smart enough to get the hell aware from this soon to be very dead arsehole. His swearing and dark planning only grew in volume as it continued to sink in, his words making Dwalin whistle in appreciation while Bilbo alternated between wincing and showing dumbfounded shock when he actually understood what Thorin was saying he intended to do to with the bastard when he got ahold of him.

Sensing it would be a while before his boss reigned himself in, Dwalin turned his attention to Bilbo, asking him what info he had on this guy.

Reaching into his pocket Bilbo pulled out his iPhone, and after a few swipes and button pressing asked Dwalin where he wanted it sent to. Typing in the address he was given Bilbo waited until the file he'd cobbled together was sent before he continued. "The picture in here isn't him, or at least not him anymore. There were enough similarities that it might have been him or someone related to him, but that's not how he looks now. He's bald, really, really pale, and skinny, really bad teeth."

"And you went out with this guy?"

Bilbo glared at Thorin. "He doesn't look nearly as bad in the picture he sent, and I didn't have a lot of options since I waited until the last minute to get a date like I promised Hamish I would. He'd been asking and asking on Middle Earth for a date, I thought I was killing two birds with one stone!"

Trying to head off a fight, Dwalin stated that it wouldn't be a good idea for Bilbo and Frodo to stay in their house. Personal information was way too easy to find these days, and though he'd personally overseen the security on Bilbo's house at Thorin's insistence, and it was damn good, there were always ways to get through if you were determined enough.

"I packed bags for both of us before we came here."

"A hotel won't have-"

Bilbo cut Thorin off. "I thought we'd stay with you."

"What?"

"If it was just me it would be another story, but it isn't. He approached Frodo, tried to get close to our son." Bilbo's voice was almost as hard and ruthless as Thorin's had been moments before. "Neither you nor I could handle not having him close knowing he might be in danger, so we'll stay with you until you're sure it's safe for us to go home. If that's alright with you."

Struck dumb, it was a rare thing when he got what he wanted from Bilbo without having to fight for it now, Thorin nodded his head, words beyond him.

After going over a few things Dwalin promised to review the information and find out everything he could about Stoor, leaving Bilbo and Thorin alone together in the office so that he could get started on his search. Thorin took Dwalin's seat so that they were sitting side by side facing his desk, both quiet as Thorin continued to absorb everything and Bilbo waited for the other man to tear into him about how this was all his fault and that if something had happened to Frodo earlier that would have been on his head too.

Eventually realizing Thorin wasn't going to do that, Bilbo prompted him, since he deserved to be yelled at and berated and he'd rather face it now then wait and imagine what was to come. "Aren't you going to yell at me more?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because you'd sooner kill yourself in the most painful ways your innocent mind could devise than allow Frodo to come to harm. I know that. This wasn't your fault, and you came to me even though that was probably the last thing you wanted to do. For him. I'm saving my fury for the one who deserves it."

Not sure what to say to that, Bilbo just nodded and then got to his feet, walking over to the door to call Frodo in.

Eager to do that Frodo came barrelling in to climb into his papa's lap, not sure why he was being hugged so hard but quite happy to return the gesture.

)

Two of Dwalin's best men were assigned to escort Bilbo and Frodo to Thorin's house, seeing them both inside and remaining on the main floor to stand guard while Bilbo put away the groceries they'd brought with them so they wouldn't go to waste. Once that was done he prepared a quick lunch for the two of them, and then it was time to take Frodo upstairs for a nap. He'd had way too much excitement unexpectedly, and Frodo didn't even try to argue about the need to lie down for a little hile. His room here was twice the size of the one he had at home, filled with books and toys and anything he could want, but Frodo hadn't come to play and after being tucked under his covers with his requisite number of stuffed animals he closed his eyes and conked out without a worry in the world.

Envying his son that ability, he wasn't going to be sleeping easy any time soon, Bilbo headed out of the room and carrying his own bag headed for the bedroom he'd slept in the last time he'd been here, when Thorin had gotten a bad winter cold and Frodo had wanted to be around his papa to take care of him. Naturally he'd been the one doing the actual nursing, and hadn't that been fun, but he was also one of the few people on earth that could handle a sick Thorin, so there hadn't been a lot of choice either.

And he had been rewarded, Bilbo thought as his eyes gravitated to the door across from Frodo's. Thorin's bedroom door, remembering. Thorin had finally been on the mend, able to move around and take care of himself, and he'd gone in to bring the man lunch after putting Frodo down for his nap. His attempt to lightly shake Thorin awake had ended with him being yanked onto the bed and under Thorin, who still half asleep and whose body had been more aware than his brain.

Thorin had snogged the hell out of him, grinding their hips together while he did it, so that by the time Thorin was awake enough to realize what was going on…well they'd both been hot and bothered enough to say to hell with being smart and had shagged each other's brains out.

That had been seven months ago, not that he was counting. Nor their first slip since their break up either, come to that.

Yeah…he was so not going to be sleeping easy any time soon.


	3. Home Sweet Home

Home Sweet Home

Driving home that night Thorin considered it a dark irony that it had taken a stalker to get Bilbo to agree to live in the same house as him. Even when they'd been together the other man had kept his own place. Of course back in those days he'd lived in a crap little apartment, one Bilbo had hated on sight and had proceeded to decorate for him over the course of their five months together before everything had gone to hell in a hand basket. But now here he was, heading home to a big house where dinner would be waiting according to Bilbo, an actual home cooked meal and people waiting for him to eat it with. Not that he didn't have meals with his sister and her boys, he did, but it wasn't the same thing. Not even remotely.

At one time he'd thought this was going to be his life once he finally taken back control over Erebor and stuck it to Smaug. That he and Bilbo would get married, buy a house together and fill it with children. Live happily fucking ever, Thorin thought darkly as he forced down the memories, the remembered pain of when he'd realized none of it was ever to be.

Thank God for Frodo.

To this day Thorin wasn't entirely sure what he'd have become at this point if not for his boy. After the breakup he'd thrown himself into his work like a mad man, living and breathing his business so that he'd basically lived in his office for months on nothing but coffee, cigars, and anger, still licking wounds that just wouldn't heal when Bilbo had randomly showed up at his office and told him that he was a father out of the fucking blue.

He'd asked Bilbo to marry him after his initial meltdown of epic proportions, but naturally his ex had said no because that was just how stubborn and unreasonable Bilbo was. He'd had to settle for the fact that Frodo had his last name, and at least lived in the same city as him which was more than some men in his situation could claim. Or so Bilbo told him whenever they argued, though Thorin was willing to admit that Bilbo was good about making sure that he got to spend time with Frodo.

But this…well it would be interesting to see if this small taste of what could have been healed some wounds, or opened new ones before it was over and the two went back to their own house.

Arriving at his place fifteen minutes later Thorin parked his car in the garage and then headed out again to come in the front door, pleased to find two of his top security guys there as expected.

"Sir."

Nodding in acknowledgement Thorin asked for confirmation that nothing had happened that he needed to know about, Nori confirming that no one except for an expected delivery truck had visited the house. Mr. Baggins, he explained, had ordered groceries delivered as he'd declared the contents of Thorin's kitchen to be either unusable, unhealthy, or not something Frodo would eat.

"I see someone still eats like he's about to go into hibernation when he's worried." Shaking his head over Bilbo's bottomless stomach, he'd never been able to figure out where the man put it all, Thorin brushed off the thought and turned his mind back to the task at hand, thanking them for their work and then telling them they could head out for the night. He'd expect them at seven the next morning.

"Yes, Sir." Nori stated, Bifur just nodding his head since he wasn't much for talking.

"Just hold on a minute there."

All three turned their attention to the main hallway, watching as Bilbo came walking towards them with a grocery sack in his hand, Frodo at his side carrying an identical one in his arms.

"Frodo and I just wanted to thank you both for taking care of us today, we thought saving you the trouble of having to make yourself dinner when you get home is the least we could do."

"We gots roast and tatoes and corn!" Frodo informed them proudly as he carefully made his way to Bifur's side, holding out his sack while Bilbo gave his to Nori, who stuttered out a thank you while Bifur patted Frodo on the head in thanks, both men equally grateful for the fact that they were going to get to sample the food they'd been smelling for the last two hours.

"You made pot roast?" Thorin couldn't help it, he perked right up at just the thought. He loved Bilbo's pot roast, though pretty much anything the other man made was guaranteed to be delicious. When you spent as much time eating as Bilbo did, it was wise to make it yourself or go bankrupt.

"Yes, I did. And don't worry, there's plenty for you to have as sandwiches tomorrow."

"Let's go eat, Papa!" Running over Frodo took Thorin's hand and gave it a tug, tacking on a goodbye to Bifur and Nori when Bilbo reminded him to do so.

Returning the gesture both men smiled and headed out for the night, leaving the other three to walk to the dining room together for their meal and family time.

)

Naturally the reason they were currently living together wasn't discussed at the table, Frodo was there and neither had any intention of scaring him. For the time being, anyway, he was being told that they were staying with Thorin because Thorin wanted to spend more time with him, which the four year old accepted easily and without question. He was just happy they were all together for once, and talked all the way through dinner which kept everything lively and pleasant for his parents. After dinner they played 'Go Fish' because Frodo loved to say that, then it was time for his bath which Bilbo took care of, and then it was time for stories and tuck in, which Bilbo let Thorin handle, taking a backseat as he stood off to the side to listen and then give his own hugs and kisses.

Once they were sure Frodo was going to stay put Bilbo went to the bathroom to finish tiding up the small mess there, the bathtub was big enough for their son to swim in which is precisely what Frodo had been doing. And while the boy was getting pretty good at it, some water had gone flying in the process.

Everything back to rights in short order, Bilbo went to his bedroom and got changed into loose pajama bottoms and a T-shirt, then headed back downstairs to get himself a bowl of ice cream, which he was working on when Thorin appeared in the kitchen, walking over to take a seat beside him.

"Heavenly Hash? Not Cookies and Cream?"

"Yeah, no. Haven't touched that since I was up the duff, food cravings, you know. After three months of eating it most ever day I had to revise my former opinion, and admit that it really is possible to eat too much of that ice cream and get sick of it."

"That would explain why you nearly doubled in size in the end. At least in the pictures it looked like it." The words carried an edge of bitterness, Thorin still mad after all these years that he hadn't been a part of Bilbo's pregnancy.

Wincing, because yes, he had look like a stunted beached whale towards the end of his pregnancy, Bilbo settled for giving Thorin a dark look.

"No need to take offense, you lost it and then some. You're thinner than when we were together."

"Baby yoga."

"What?"

"It was the baby yoga I got talked into signing Frodo and I up for. I got hooked and it keeps me in better shape. Plus a heck of a lot more flexible, I can actually touch my toes these days." Bilbo smiled at the expression that had just crossed Thorin's face, fairly sure that he wasn't flattering himself by guessing that the other man was now thinking of all the ways flexibility could come in handy in the bedroom. But since thinking about that wasn't a good thing for him either, his imagination was even more vivid than Thorin's, Bilbo asked instead what had brought the other man down. Dwalin had been sending him updates, so he knew that so far the information he'd given them was pretty much all they had.

"I came to ask if you'd look over some accounting records for me. Something's gone wrong with them and Balin's out and recovering from hip surgery."

"I know that. I visited him on Monday to take him some frozen potpies and see how he was doing."

"You did?"

"Of course. He's a lovely man, and like a father to you which makes him a sort of grandfather to Frodo, who adores him as well. We've visited him a few times, he probably just didn't mention it to you because talking about me tends to set you off. And on that note, you really want me to have a look at your books? Me, Mr. Lying, Manipulative, Backstabbing, Underhanded Thief who nearly destroyed your precious Erebor before Smaug could."

Regretting the words as soon as they'd left his mouth, Bilbo winced, even more so when he recognized the twitch that appeared under Thorin's eye as a sign that he'd hit a nerve. Hard.

"If we discuss the past we'll wind up bringing the house down arguing, so we are not going down that route, Bilbo. You won't sleep easy tonight anyway, but if you don't want to help then fine."

Poking at what was left of his ice cream Bilbo addressed it as opposed to Thorin, feeling bad now but unwilling to apologize for the moment. "I'm going to finish this, and then I'll meet you in your study. Balin will set back his recovery and come in if he hears things are going wrong in his absence."

"Fine."

Listening to Thorin stomp out, not hard to do given the hardwood flooring, Bilbo lifted up his head once he was sure it was safe, knowing that his face was probably a study in acute misery. It had been a long, long day, and trying to hide just how upset and miserable he was-helping Thorin with his accounting problem was probably a good idea, Bilbo thought to himself with a sigh. It would take his mind off things. Hopefully. If God finally decided to show him just a little pity and understanding.

Ruefully Bilbo acknowledged the fact that he'd thought much the same when six years ago Grey Gandalf, an eccentric businessman his mother had worked for as a personal assistant until her death, had asked him to do him a personal favor. Being the helpful sort, as well as genuinely fond of his mother's former boss, he'd naturally said he'd be happy to help, regretting that as soon as Gandalf had explained the situation.

Erebor had been famous all over their world centuries because of their stunningly beautiful and original jewelry designs, flawless gemstones, and incomparable mining operations all over the globe. In their prime everyone who was anyone owned jewelry from Erebor, but that had all started to change as Thrór Durin came closer and closer to retirement age. His stubborn refusal to keep up with the changing times in terms of technology and trends had costed the company quite a bit, but it was his greed and obsession with increasing his wealth that caused problems as he started to overcharge his consumers and underpay those who worked for him. In the end the shock of Benedict Smaug's company, 'Golden Dragon', knocking him out of top place had led to a heart attack that had killed him and signaled the beginning of the short reign of Thráin II. The man's son was not the businessman his father had been, and he'd broken under the pressure of trying to repair the damage his father had done. He'd struggled for three years before having a breakdown, necessitating that his son Thorin resign from the army to take over and try and do the impossible and save the company.

That Erebor was massively indebt was bad enough, but what was worse was that Smaug had gone around to their creditors and bought them up so that he could demand that the Durins either pay up, or hand Erebor over to him to be absorbed into his own company. The courts had given Thorin six months to pay back the millions owed or lose the company. Gandalf had asked him to go to work for Thorin, having convinced the man that he needed an outsider who wasn't emotionally involved in the company to come in and not only evaluate the situation, but come up with ways for them to generate enough revenue to allow them to not only pay off their debts, but their workers and other expenses.

He hadn't wanted to take the job, it had sounded to him like a damn bad way to start his career as a business consultant, but out of love and a good dose of guilt from Gandalf he'd agreed to join what he'd thought was a doomed company.

Thorin sure as bloody hell hadn't wanted him around, especially after he'd nearly fallen off a cliff while they'd been visiting a mining facility in Australia, necessitating Thorin having to save him. After that it had been safe to say the man had made it clear what he thought of him, which was nothing good. And then Azog, Smaug's evil beyond all descriptions lawyer, had tried to cut down the time Thorin had to pay up and he'd finally been able to do something right in Thorin's eyes, so to speak.

Aka he'd given a speech to the judge about what Erebor meant to Thorin and its employees that had made the woman cry. And after, when the judge had not only ruled in their favor but extended the time Thorin had to come up with the money, Thorin had hugged him and that…that had been the start of their awareness of each other as something more than ginormous thorns they had to put up with.

But like all good things…that hadn't lasted all that long, in the grand scheme of things.

)

Sitting on one side of one of the ugliest but most comfortable couches ever made, Thorin looked up from the paperwork he was reviewing when he heard the sound of his study door being opened. Watching Bilbo walk over to take the other side of the couch, looking annoyingly adorable in his too big for him sleepwear, Thorin noted the laptop bag slugged over one shoulder. He waited until Bilbo had his laptop up and running, and then without a word he pulled a flash drive out of his shirt pocket and handed it over.

Taking it from him Bilbo inserted it into place. "This shouldn't take long, I'm guessing whoever Balin left in charge fibbed when Balin explained his system."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that Balin has a very-unique way of doing things, he had to explain it to me six times before I got it. My guess is his replacement didn't understand but didn't want to admit it the first or second time, so he or she said they got it thinking they could figure it out on their own. Hence your problem."

"But you remember."

"Its uniqueness is hard to forget."

Leaving it at that, he could see that Bilbo was already immersing himself in the files and numbers they held, Thorin allowed himself to watch the other man for a bit, knowing his attention wouldn't be noticed. They'd spent a lot of nights like this on this exact couch, working into the morning with their legs and feet tangled together in the middle, a shared blanket thrown over them. He'd missed it, that ease and connection, being able to look up from his work to see Bilbo still plugging away, or watching him, smiling as their eyes met before they went back to what they were doing.

Allowing himself to fall back into that rhythm for the moment Thorin watched for a minute or two and then went back to his own work, forcing himself to give the papers his full concentration until Bilbo's voice reached his ears, informing him that not only had he fixed the problem, but that he'd sent an email to the man in charge explaining Balin's system and offering his assistance if need be.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Here's the flash drive." A long pause. "I have other work to do…would it be alright if I stayed in here?"

"That's fine."

So it was back to work for both of them, Thorin getting up at one point to retrieve his own laptop before returning to his earlier spot, going to work on that while Bilbo typed away on his own machine, appearing oblivious to the fact that he'd moved. But move they both eventually did, long ago habits and routines hard to break as Bilbo shifted around before ending up with his back braced against the armrest, his sock covered feet resting on the middle cushion. This had Thorin's otherwise engaged brain doing the same, so that he too shifted around so that his bare feet were placed on either side of Bilbo's left leg.

They stayed like that for about an hour, Thorin finally glancing up from his work to give his eyes a break, noticing the position they were in. It made him move without thinking as he deliberately bumped his leg against Bilbo's, smiling automatically when Bilbo glanced up and smiled at him, caught up in the moment as well.

Then the smiles dimmed, and the awkward silence took over.

"I'm glad you kept this couch, even after you moved." Bilbo finally said.

"The decorator I hired to do the house hated it."

"Well it is one of the ugliest couches ever made. She wouldn't have known to factor in its comfort level. You slept on this couch more than your own bed when I knew you." Bilbo's lips quirked into a smile of fond memories. "Actually, it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if we conceived Frodo on this couch."

And crap, both thought as the statement hit home, now they'd brought sex into the conversation again.

Not good. Not good at all.


	4. If We Were Couches

If We Were Couches

Trying to steer the conversation away from sex, or at least break the awkward silence, Bilbo forced a smile onto his face as he tried to fix things. "That being the case, we should wait until he's a teenager and done something particularly bad, and has us both wishing he'd stayed a baby forever, and then sit him on this couch to lecture him and then tell him afterwards that he was conceived on it. If nothing else we can take pictures of his face and use them as blackmail material."

Thorin's deep laughter bounced off the walls, Bilbo's smile in response not forced at all.

"There is that. Though I can't see Frodo getting into that much trouble even as a teenager. After the trouble Fili and Kili have gotten into since they could walk Frodo is going to seem like an angel in disguise even if he takes after me instead of you."

"Hey, I got into trouble too when I was a lad!"

Thorin's eyebrow raised in a gesture that made it clear he figured the worst crime Bilbo had ever committed was maybe jaywalking.

"I have a tattoo, remember?!"

The smirk Thorin had been sporting shifted a little into a leer. "I remember. And a tastefully executed tattoo of a Celtic tree of life on your upper arm doesn't count as a major rebellion. Especially since you didn't get it until university."

Since Thorin had some very sexy tattoos on his body from his time in the army and rebellious teenage years, Bilbo had to take a moment to enjoy those mental images. He had very fond memories of tracing some of that ink with his tongue and dwelled on that for a moment before continuing the conversation, stating that they weren't going to let Frodo have any tattoos until he was eighteen.

"Given that we both have them it would be hard to argue with him about getting one. Plus aren't you friends with a former tattoo artist?"

"And you have friends you wouldn't want Frodo to take after either." And technically the artist in question was a former boyfriend who'd talked him into said tattoo and some former piercings he'd never told Thorin about, which had long since healed,…but they didn't need to get into that.

Since Thorin could exactly argue the other man's point, Bilbo knew too many of his more 'quirky' friends, Thorin opted instead to nudge Bilbo's foot with his as he dryly pointed out that Bilbo couldn't deny that the odds of Frodo surpassing his cousins when it came to finding trouble were slim to none.

"That we can agree on, yes."

The mood having shifted into the positive as they smiled at each other knowingly, or as positive as they got these days when shagging and Frodo weren't involved, and that being the case Bilbo took a deep breath and said what he should have said before.

"I'm sorry about before, when I made that comment after you asked me to look at your books. I shouldn't have."

Surprise washed over Thorin's face for a moment before he adopted his usual mask of cool confidence as he inclined his head. "It's fine."

The mood wasn't quite as bright now, but they both lapsed into relatively comfortable silence after that as they went back to working on their respective laptops until they looked up at the sound of the study door being opened, smiling when in came Frodo in his glow in the dark polka dot pajamas, dragging his dragon stuffed animal behind him by its tail.

Knuckling his eyes with his free hand Frodo yawned widely as he came over to them as he mumbled that he couldn't sleep.

Immediately Thorin looked at Bilbo, who felt the man's gaze and knew exactly why the other man was giving him that look. It was because Frodo took after him when it came to his sleeping preference and they both knew it. Which was to say that if given the option both Bilbo and Frodo preferred to snuggle up with someone as opposed to staying by themselves in their beds. Not that they couldn't sleep by themselves, of course they could, but they loved to cuddle and Frodo, being only four, knew that he could usually talk one of his parents into letting him sleep with them so long as he 'tried' to sleep by himself first.

"It's not my fault. It's like blaming you for his eye color."

"You don't like his eye color?"

"No, of course not. Yours-they're beautiful. I just meant that-nevermind. Frodo, you need to go back to bed."

Knowing his parents well Frodo responded to that by getting up onto the couch and then taking a seat in Bilbo's lap, nuzzling his cheek against the soft cotton of his daddy's shirt as he stated that he wanted to stay with them.

"Oh yes, just like you."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

Thorin didn't bother to hide his smirk. "I mean that if I was a couch, my thighs would STILL have a permanent indent from your bottom."

Bilbo could feel his cheeks going hot, sputtering a little before he finally managed to get out an understandable sentence. "Well if I was a couch I'd STILL have scratches all over from your bloody beard!"

Feeling very confused as they made faces at each other, though he supposed he should be used to it by now, Frodo decided to take advantage of the situation and cocked out right where he was while his daddy and papa talked about couches for some reason.

)

The next morning they all sat down to a proper breakfast, Thorin and Bilbo dressed suits while Frodo was decked out in his preschool uniform. After some discussion it had been decided that Frodo could go to his school given that it was the best, most exclusive in London with all the security that entailed. It was where Thorin had gone, which was how Frodo had gotten in. They'd take him together and make sure that everyone involved knew the situation and that a special eye was to be kept on their son and that the school should be on a lookout for any suspicious characters showing any interest in Frodo at all. Once that was taken care of Bilbo was going to Erebor with Thorin to work in one of the empty conference rooms, just to be safe.

"Though I'll need to stop at my house around two, to put some stuff together." Bilbo informed Thorin as they went over their plans again. "But I'll take someone with me, pick up Frodo when it's time, and then we have a quick stop to make and then we'll come back here for the day."

"We gotta visit Radagast, Papa!"

"Who?"

Before Bilbo could stop him Frodo explained to his papa that Radagast was a funny man who lived in a tree in a park near their house. They brought him food sometimes, and he gots to pet the man's squirrels, birds, chipmunks and even a hedgehog!

"Bilbo." Thorin's tone said it all.

"He was my high school biology teacher…and he's an old university friend of Gandalf's. He just…consumed too many mushrooms over the year and-sorta loses touch with reality sometimes. He's harmless though, really, he's only living in the tree to protest the fact that the city's talking about paving the park over. Well…and he got kicked out of his last flat for bringing too many animals into it. The rats, especially."

Frodo giggled. "Papa's making a funny face."

That he was. "Really, Thorin, Mr. Radagast might not be normal, by any stretch of the meaning, but he really likes Frodo and he's expecting us. We visit every Wednesday after preschool."

"Fine, but I'll be the one taking you both to see him. I'll meet him myself."

Hearing loud and clear that he and Thorin would be going a round if the other man didn't approve of Frodo being around his former teacher, Bilbo grimaced but didn't argue. He'd save his breath for when he needed it.

The rest of breakfast went by without incident, as did the dropping Frodo off at his school. Once they arrived at Erebor, however, both were really aware of the eyes that were on them from the moment they stepped in and all the way to the top floor of the building. The reason why they were being stared at was on both their minds, it was unavoidable, especially when they passed by the jewel of Erebor so to speak.

The Arkenstone.

Most people, even those who'd seen it many times before, tended to stop for a minute to stare at its brilliance, marveling over the stone's oddly haunting beauty and perfection before tearing their eyes away with the secret hope to come back and again try to figure out what was so special about it.

Personally, there were no words on earth to adequately describe how much Bilbo hated the hunk of stone. And he'd majored in English as well as Business.

He'd always thought of Erebor's ultimate prize as the rock around the company's neck, submerging it underwater in an attempt to drown it. Selling the damn thing would have paid off the business's debts so quickly and easily that he'd talked himself blue in the face his first week here trying to get Thorin to sell it. But as he'd heard, until he wanted to gorge out his own eardrums, The Arkenstone was Erebor, and could never leave it.

Never mind that it was after one of the mines had produced the damn thing that Thorin's grandfather had started to obsess over money instead of what was best for his own company either, Thorin had been determined to keep it because it had meant everything to the old man. Had become a symbol, in Thorin's eyes, of what Erebor had once been, and what it would be again.

And in the end, when there had been no chance of saving Erebor from Smaug without the help of Dale Inc...he'd gone to Bard to ask about giving the man's company part ownership of the stone in exchange for their help. Behind Thorin's back.

Thorin had found out-and never forgiven him.

"Careful, or your face might stick in that expression."

Shifting his gaze over to meet Thorin's Bilbo just nodded and motioned for Thorin to continue in whatever direction they were headed.

He was grateful Thorin didn't say any more on the topic, though he figured that partly had to do with the fact that Thorin couldn't argue that what he'd done had ultimately saved Erebor. The deal hadn't gone through, obviously, Thorin had fired him and kicked him out of the company when he'd found out, but Bard hadn't known that and had come to Erebor's aid for free, believing that the offer had shown Thorin's true repentance for the way Thrór had nearly brought about the ruin of Dale too years before.

So Thorin had gotten to keep his company and his stupid stone…while he'd lost what he wanted most. Thorin.

Yay him.

Having reached their destination Thorin opened the conference door for them. "If you need anything you know where to find me. No leaving this floor without telling me, understand?"

Shifting the strap of his laptop bag on his shoulder Bilbo nodded, retrieved the second bag Thorin had insisted on carrying in for him from the other man's hand, and then stated that he'd be fine as he headed into the conference room.

)

Getting the fact that he'd basically been dismissed, Thorin watched Bilbo set up his laptop and supplies at the conference table from the doorway for a moment before closing the door behind him. Shaking his head he headed back the way he'd come, stopping beside the case that showed off the Arkenstone in all its glory, the sight one that inspired conflicting, often violent emotions in him. On the one hand he could still remember his awe the first time he'd seen it, the way he' been unable to help himself from visiting it again and again, staring at it through its case and nagging his grandfather to take it out so that he could run his hands over it. But he also remembered his grandfather being even more obsessed with it, and having it greet him every day after he'd been forced to take over the company from his father, seeming to mock him with the knowledge that selling it would get him out of the hole he was in. Knowing that he couldn't, but the idea had only aggravated in his mind by the yappy little business consultant Gandalf had stuck him with.

Smiling ruefully as he remembered that first day in what seemed a lifetime ago, when he had first laid eyes on Bilbo Baggins, Thorin supposed there was some irony in the fact that they'd first met in front of the stone. Of course then he hadn't known that the man Gandalf had asked him to meet would go on to fascinate and bewitch him even more than the Arkenstone, all he'd see was a cute, curly haired young man with a seductively curvy body that had reminded him, somewhat uncomfortably, of the fact that between the army and his two months dealing with Erebor's imminent demise, sex hadn't been in his cards in far too long.

Even while he'd been mentally taking off the very prim and proper three piece suit Bilbo had been wearing at the time he'd noticed when Gandalf, who hadn't seen him coming, had stopped and pointed out the stone to Bilbo, who'd looked at it for a moment and then had dismissed it so easily and turned to lock eyes with him instead.

Naturally he'd forgotten all about wanting to sleep with Bilbo within an hour of meeting him, killing him had seemed like the far more preferable course of action once they'd started talking business, but the seed had been planted so to speak, finally shooting out of the ground that day in the courtroom, when Bilbo had so eloquently spoken the words that lived in his own heart, but ones he had never had a hope of explaining to anyone when it came to what Erebor meant to him and his people. He'd-

"My dear boy, what have I told you about staring at that thing?"

Speak of the devil, Thorin mused as he turned around and tilted his head up to meet Gandalf's both amused and disapproving stare. "Hello, Gandalf."

"Thorin."

"I wasn't expecting you. What brings you by?"

The old man's eyes twinkled mischievously, making him seem a great deal younger than he actually was as they started to walk in the direction of Thorin's office. "Well as you know I prefer to be very mysterious and secretive about my plans, but in this case I'm pressed for time and haven't had nearly enough caffeine this morning. So…I've been guilted into helping collect donation for a charity event being hosted by friends of mine and I decided to come guilt you into donating something tastefully expensive."

"I see. Why are you limping?"

"Ah, I annoyed Charles this morning. He ran over my foot."

Not doubting for the moment that Gandalf had deserved being partially run over by a wheelchair, his kudos to the man's husband, Thorin didn't bother to ask what Gandalf had done now. Instead he stated that he would be willing to consider donating something, especially if he were to get Gandalf's opinion on his friend Radagast.

"Radagast? Now why on earth would he interest you?"

"I'm meeting him this afternoon."

"Now I am even more confused, which is not something-ah. It's Wednesday. You've learned that Bilbo's been taking Frodo to the park with him and you've decided to stick your nose in." Shaking his head Gandalf waved a finger in Thorin's direction. "Must I remind you again that I am Frodo's godfather, Thorin Durin? I'd never allow any harm to come to him, not even to help a friend. And I assure you that while Radagast unquestionably loves animals more than people-he basically thinks of Frodo as the former. It's adults he has problems relating to. How did Bilbo take the news you intended to come, by the by?"

"Since he's living with me for the moment we're trying to keep the arguments to a minimum."

"Living with you? Has hell frozen over while I wasn't looking?"

"No. He might be in trouble."

All trace of merriment disappeared from Gandalf's eyes like it had never been. "Tell me."

Thorin waited until they were in his office, and then he told his old friend everything that he knew, the other man's eyes going ever darker and more piercing. By the end of it Gandalf's hands were white at the knuckles, from griping the sides of his chair too hard.

"And of course he doesn't come to me. Takes after his father my foot. At the core he's a damn Took." Bringing his fist down on the top of the armrest Gandalf began muttering under his breath, the words not loud enough for Thorin to even begin to know what he was saying, though he had a pretty good idea. He'd had plenty to say about Bilbo's stubbornness over the years too.

And then Gandalf was done and looking at him with a speculative gleam in his eyes.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just thinking that it's interesting, that he's staying with you. That you're letting him, for that matter."

"Well of course he and Frodo are staying with me. Who else? He'd never risk you and all his friends are probably as good in a fight as he is."

"On the contrary, I can think of a few, one especially who would be more than capable of keeping the two of them safe had Bilbo gone to him instead. You might even meet him, should he find out about this. That would be a meeting I'd pay to see." Getting to his feet Gandalf smoothed down his trousers. "But I'm glad he and Frodo are with you. It will do you all some good."

It was on the tip of Thorin's tongue to demand to know who this other guy was, and exactly how well Bilbo knew him, but he'd long ago learned to watch out for Gandalf's traps, which was exactly what that little tease was.

Apparently realizing Thorin wasn't about to rise to the bait, at least not yet, Gandalf inquired as to just where he could find Bilbo so that he could scold the boy thoroughly for not appraising him of the situation immediate.

Thorin was happy to give him directions.


	5. Just Won't Leave

Just Won't Leave

Bilbo's ears were still red and burning hours after Gandalf had left, his fingers jabbing bad temperedly at his keyboard as he worked furiously to finish his report and try not to think about the conversation they'd had, which had ended with him feeling like he was a little, misbehaving boy. He really, really hated when the other man talked to him like he was a child, and now he had to worry about Gandalf worrying about him, which wasn't good for the man's heart or nerves. He'd hoped to avoid all this fussing and worrying by not clueing the other man about his possible stalker until it was absolutely necessary, but now that wasn't happening thanks to a certain someone. Damn Thorin. And damn the whole situation in general as far as he was concerned.

Though at least the visit had given him the idea to send emails to his friends asking them to look into what was known about Stoor on 'Middle Earth', a small silver lining but one Bilbo was prepared to cling to for the time being. These particular friends had created the site after all, and Stoor was a pretty well-known player on the RPG. And after all, he didn't play as much as he had before Frodo, Bilbo reasoned in the back of his mind, so it was only logical that he might have missed out on gossip that would help them find the guy so that his damn life could go back to normal. He'd tried to be circumspect on why he wanted the information, and was fairly sure that it would work on all but Beorn. His ex, who'd been in charge of the original design concepts for characters and backgrounds, knew him far too well and was as overprotective as Thorin could be. Gandalf had been surprised he hadn't taken Frodo and gone to stay with Beorn, which was what had made him realize he had another information source he needed to tap.

Shaking his head at the idea of what would happen if Thorin and Beorn were stuck interacting each other for any length of time, Bilbo silently pledged that if that happened he was treating himself to an island vacation in compensation for not killing either of them, and keeping them both out of jail too. As it was, it had taken all his skills and liberal use of his pregnant condition for him to keep Beorn from killing Thorin when his ex had learned about the situation he'd found himself in the first time. Of course Beorn would have killed Thorin for the broken heart alone if the man hadn't been in the States at the time and unaware of what was being kept from him.

Beorn had promised his mum, after his father had passed away, that if anything were to happen to her he'd take care of him for her. His former boyfriend, and now very close friend, took that promise very, very seriously. Sometimes scarily so. Thinking about the damage he and Thorin would do to his possible stalker was enough to drain all color from his face.

And yeah, he should also really stop thinking about the fact that his life too often resembled a bad soap opera whenever Thorin figured prominently in it, and turn his attention back to work before he gave himself ulcers.

Which he did. Mostly. With some success anyway. And then his stomach started to grumble a little, reminding him that it was almost lunch time. Not even the morning he'd been having could quell his appetite after all. It only increased it really.

Sighing, especially since he remembered all over again that he had forgotten, thanks to that stupid stone, to give Thorin his lunch before they'd parted ways earlier, Bilbo scowled into thin air. That forgetfulness meant that he was either going to have to run it over to the no doubt ungrateful jerk, invite Thorin to join him for lunch, or just eat the extra food himself and leave the constant, unfortunately only metaphorical, pain in his arse to fend for himself. He always had room for more when he was stressed after all, and being back in Erebor was definitely high on his list of stressful situation to be in.

Unfortunately he had told Thorin the night before that he'd make him sandwiches from the leftovers, and backing out now would just seem petty, or worse cowardly. And while he could take the food to Thorin…well why should he have to when he'd gone to all the bloody trouble to make the man lunch in the first place?

Puffed up with indignation at the very idea Bilbo pulled out his phone and sent a very brief and to the point message to Thorin stating if the man wanted his lunch he needed to come and get it pronto or it would be eaten.

There, Bilbo thought smugly as he put his phone back into his pocket. Now Thorin would have to come to him for once. It served him right.

Pleased with himself Bilbo turned his attention to retrieving the various items he had brought with him in the second bag, setting all of Thorin's Tupperware containers off to the side with a bottle of water, since he knew the man drank way too much coffee. If something killed Thorin prematurely it was damn well doing to be him and not the prat's abysmal eating and drinking habits.

Retaking his seat once he had his lunch all nicely spread out in front of him, it wasn't long before the door opened and Thorin came strolling in with his hands in his pockets, his head cocking to the side when Bilbo pointed in the direction of the unpacked food.

"You made me lunch?"

Bilbo's surprise was all over his face. "You thought I'd make Frodo's and mine lunch and not put anything together for you? I told you I'd make you sandwiches from the roast yesterday, remember?"

"I thought that would be my dinner."

"Right…because sandwiches are what I serve for dinner." Bilbo was insulted at the very idea. He was a Baggins for God's sakes! He could COOK!

"We had them plenty when we were together." Thorin pointed out as he pulled out the chair closest to his lunch and took a seat, reaching for the first container.

Watching the man, dammit he was going to stay, Bilbo forced his thoughts and words to center on what Thorin had just said and implied. "We often had sandwiches for dinner back then because I'd usually spent the whole bloody day butting heads with you or running around like a mad thing trying to fix the too numerous to list problems that seemed to erupt on a daily basis around here. I was too TIRED to do more than slap a few things between some bread for us."

A thoughtful pause and then Thorin admitted that yes, they hadn't had much of a life back then. Or energy once they left the building.

"If we left the building."

"If we left the building." Thorin agreed.

Shaking his head over the mess that was their former relationship, in all its forms, Bilbo pointedly turned his attention to his food, Thorin thankfully doing the same.

)

Nearly two hours after their lunch together both called it a day, unusual for Thorin to say the least, and headed out together to go to Bilbo's house and then pick up Frodo from preschool. As they drove in basic silence, though it was comfortable enough, Thorin mused over the thought that had come to him while they were eating, namely the idea that he didn't know the other man nearly as well as he should given that they'd spent over half a year in each other's company, five of those months as a couple. He wasn't completely clueless, he had listened when Bilbo had talked about his deceased parents, crazy relatives, and his plans for the future. And he did know something about his ex's favorite foods and such, though Bilbo would eat just about anything provided it was prepared right, but he couldn't help but think that the longer they'd been together the less they'd talked about themselves and the more they'd just talked about work. They literally had risen, eaten, and slept with the company and its problems those last two months.

He should have made more of an effort back then, or at least done more of the shoving stuff between two pieces of bread despite the fact that he just didn't have the nurturing genes that Bilbo had. The man literally loved to feed people.

"You should have been a chef."

"That would not have ended well. But thank you, I think."

Thorin glanced over at Bilbo and asked him why it wouldn't have ended well.

"Because I can't just taste things, I have to eat them too. In a year I'd have been bigger than I was when I was pregnant." He actually shivered at the thought. "And unless I'm knocked up again there's no way I'm ever getting that big ever again. The ugly clothes I had to wear alone…"

He would have chuckled, but the rest of Bilbo's words nixed that possibility. "Is that why you accepted that stupid date? Because you want more children?"

"I told you, I only went on that stupid date because I promised a friend I would. He's concerned I'm going to end up unmarried and all alone once Frodo grows up and such. And of course I want more children; I always said I envied you your siblings growing up. Though after this whole mess the idea of dating someone isn't even on the burner, much less the back one."

"I see."

"And no, to answer the implied other question, I wouldn't marry someone solely to have more children. I'd go artificial first."

"Artificial…seriously?" Thorin couldn't wrap his head around the idea, openly gawking at him.

"If it comes to that. And stop looking at me and focus on the road. If you kill us instead of my possible stalker, I'm going to be supremely displeased with you."

Lips twitching at the phrasing, Thorin pointed out that Bilbo was generally displeased with him.

"Ergo, making it ten times worse would not end well for you. Especially since we'd be dead and I'd have all eternity to make your life as miserable as I could. And don't say I'm too soft to do it, I'd find a way. Especially since we'd both be stuck watching Gandalf encourage Frodo to do all sorts of possibly dangerous things since he gets full custody if we both end up dead."

"Charles would keep him in line."

"Are you willing to bet on that?"

Okay, maybe not. Gandalf was one sly fox after all, and predicting his thoughts and intentions could often be as confusing as a pimped out garden maze with landmines buried in the ground underneath one's feet. "Why did we make him Frodo's guardian again?"

"Because he was the only person we could agree on."

"Ah. Right."

Thorin grimaced as he recalled the fights they'd had over who would have guardianship over their son should something happen to them both. A normal worry of course, but add in the money Frodo would stand to inherit on both sides, his claim to Erebor, AND the tensions between him and Bilbo…yes, it had not been a fun time.

Naturally he'd wanted his sister to be named, but at that time Bilbo and Dis had avoided each other like the plague and Bilbo had had plenty of ammunition thanks to the exploits of Fili and Kili to argue that Dis was not a fit mother for his baby. They were friendly enough now, but then… And he hadn't wanted any of Bilbo's family members to take Frodo because one, he'd never met any of them, and two, Bilbo hadn't had a lot of great things to say about most of them either. In the end Gandalf and Charles were the only two people they could agree on who would not only love their son and raise him right, but protect him from people who would try to get at his money.

When Frodo had turned three they'd both amended their wills to state that if Gandalf couldn't take Frodo for some reason than the boy would go to Dis. Bilbo had come to realize that not even a super mum would be able to keep those two in line.

Which reminded him…

"Dis wants to have all of us over for dinner this weekend, if that suits you."

"That would be lovely. I haven't seen the boys in a while."

Discussing what Fili and Kili had gotten up to lately lasted the rest of the ride, and then they were in Bilbo's neighborhood and both turned their attention to looking around, just in case. But everything looked normal as they pulled up in front of the garage, Thorin going around to all the doors first to make sure that there was no signs that the locks had been tampered with while Bilbo retrieved his mail from his box. Everything looked okay on both ends, no threatening letters and no signs that someone had even tried to enter the home in Bilbo's absence.

So Thorin let Bilbo unlock the door but went in first, checking the security system to make sure that everything looked good there. It did.

"Alright, then. I'm going to put the mail away in my office and then head to the kitchen. Would you mind going up to Frodo's room and getting his Squishy? He asked for it yesterday."

"Which one is that again?"

"Skin colored blob with multiple eyes and a Monster's University sweater on."

"Ah. I remember." Frodo loved that movie, even the scary parts. Ironically it was probably the reason that Frodo actively looked for monsters under his bed and in his closet with glee instead of trepidation. And since he wanted to get a look at the second floor to make sure there were no problems up there anyway, Thorin had no problem with his task, the two splitting up.

Knowing the way to his son's room Thorin headed straight for it, as always impressed by the murals of a forest and its creatures that decorated all the walls. Bilbo's former tattoo artist friend had done them. The man had some serious skills, he'd give him that. Frodo called him Uncle Teddy Bear.

Retrieving the toy from its place in the stuffed animal mountain Frodo kept near his bed, Thorin shoved the thing into his leather jacket pocket and then headed out and back into the hallway, looking up and down it for any-

Every door was closed except for Bilbo's.

Which could just be a coincidence, Bilbo would have packed and left in a hurry to get to him yesterday, but the man was also very much a creature of habit. And from his own experience Thorin knew that the open door was an anomaly.

Reaching into his jacket Thorin pulled out the gun he normally kept locked up at home and undid the safety, the weapon feeling like a natural extension of his arm thanks to years of training as he carefully and quietly took the few strides necessary to put him directly in front of the open door.

The room was in shambles.

There was broken glass and shredded clothing all over the floor, the cologne Bilbo sometimes wore stinking up the room due to the fact that the bottle's entire contents had been emptied or freed when the bottle was smashed. But it was the knife handles, four of them, sticking out of the torn bedding with reddish brown liquid drying in splattered pools around every one of them that had his cool begin to melt into a horrible combination of fury and fear.

And then he noticed the only thing not permanently scarred or broken in the room, a floor length mirror situated in one corner, its surface marred by words that had been written across the glass in red marker.

'Next Time'

All the blood draining from his face Thorin spun on his heels and ran back the way he'd come, his only thought was that he'd left Bilbo alone downstairs. Defenseless and unarmed. If anything happened to him, if he was even now bleeding out or-no. No that couldn't be. That couldn't happen. He couldn't lose him. He had to get to him NOW! And as Thorin thundered down the stairs he saw over the railing Bilbo running into view, wearing a frantic look on his face and with a large knife clutched in his hand.

But he was alive and appeared unhurt. He was okay.

Calling each other's name they collided at the foot of the stairs, the desperate hug they shared one armed since they were both armed, but heartfelt and tight as they both wordless expressed how grateful they were that the other was safe.

"He was in your bedroom."

"I was-I had everything all set out on the counter and-I needed a knife to cut up the carrots and I saw-four of my knives are missing from the block! Is he up there?"

"I doubt it, but I'll go up and check. You need to go outside, lock yourself in my car and call the guarda."

"No!" Bilbo's gaze went from fearful to fierce in a heartbeat. "You aren't going anywhere without me."

"There's nothing-"

"I'm not leaving you. Either we go up together or we go outside and make that call."

He wanted to argue, and gave some serious quick thought to tying the other man up so that Bilbo couldn't follow him and stashing him in the car, but Thorin knew better than to think he could get away with that. Just as he knew, more from the look in Bilbo's eyes than anything else, that there was no way they were going to be separated any time soon.

So he nodded and gave in, stating as they headed for the door that he'd call the guarda, Bilbo needed to arrange for Gandalf to pick Frodo up from school and then alert the staff there so that they knew it was alright for the older man to pick their son up.

"Yes, alright."


	6. A Police Investigation

A Police Investigation

If anyone had asked Bilbo that morning what he thought was more likely to happen to him, getting hit by a car or being questioned by the police, he would have guessed the former. The average European driver was a lunatic after all, and he had never once in his life done anything that could be considered remotely illegal or cause to call the police. Well okay, some of the things he and Thorin had done in bed together would be frowned upon or considered against the law, but that was mostly in other countries that were run by idiots who shouldn't be in charge of upholding those laws in the first place.

Actually…okay, that wasn't entirely true…there had been that time…and that other time…and okay, he'd broken some laws having sex in places he shouldn't have, but all those times had mostly not been his fault except for that time when he really couldn't have possibly waited until they got back to his place and he had made Thorin pull into a deserted-

"Mr. Baggins?"

Cheeks flushing with color Bilbo forced himself to concentrate solely on the sergeant who'd spoken, trying not to squirm as he sat beside Thorin on his couch, trying not to show how aware of his ex he now was. "I'm sorry, what was the question?"

"It's fine. I asked who has your security codes besides you and Mr. Durin, and if you could tell us their relation to you and when they were last here. It would be helpful."

"Oh. Yes, of course. Uhm-well Grey Gandalf and Charles Xavier, my son's godparents and family friends have it, they were last here…three weeks ago I believe to drop off something Frodo left at their house the day before. Beorn Carrock, a good friend of mine, it's been about a month and a half since he was here, he doesn't like the city much…and my neighbor Hamfast Gamgee. He looks after the place when I'm gone, and I watch his son Sam sometimes. But none of them would ever hurt me. Not ever. Or give someone access to my home." He added, just in case it needed to be stated.

"And have you fought with any of them recently?"

"Well Gandalf and I went a round a little today, but that was just because he was mad he didn't know I was staying with Thorin. He's very protective of me. And I said earlier Frodo's with him, which should tell you how much I trust him."

"Why would he be unhappy that you're living with Mr. Durin at the moment? Were the two of you in a relationship previously?"

Bilbo stared at the sergeant, his mouth open wide in shock as he goggled at the man in stunned silence, Thorin thankfully coming to his rescue.

"Gandalf is old enough to be Bilbo's grandfather and considers him to be family and vice versa. He's also happily married, and were his interest in Bilbo anything other than grandfatherly Charles would know and have dealt with it already." Thorin's next words were muttered. "Sometimes it's like the man can read people's minds."

"He's a professor at Oxford." Bilbo added. "That's where they met. And I've already told you who must have broken into my house. He's the only homicidal maniac I've angered recently!"

"Recently?"

"Well there's a lawyer named Azog who hates my guts for helping Thorin save Erebor. He would probably desecrate my grave if I had one, but if he decided to kill me I'd be very dead right now. And you'd never find my body. Smaug was more of a sociopath, but he's dead now so he couldn't have done this soo yeah, it was definitely the stalker guy."

"Most likely, yes." The sergeant agreed, having already been filled in about the events leading up to this break in. "But there's also the possibility that this Stoor fellow was hired by someone to cause you problems. That can't be overlooked and needs to be investigated as well."

"But the only other person I irritate enough that he'd hire someone to kill me is Thorin, and Thorin would kill me himself!"

"Thank you for that."

Shrinking a little under the look his ex was giving him, Bilbo had to make a concentrated effort to sit up straighter and look less intimidated as he scowled right back. "It's just the truth. I've certainly thought about how lovely it would be to kill you a time or two too. And don't say you haven't thought the same because I bloody well know you have. You seriously wanted to kill me after the whole Erebor thing, if that hadn't been the case I would have come to see you sooner after Frodo was born!"

"Are you telling me that I had to wait all that time to know my son, my OWN flesh and blood and heir to MY company even existed because you thought I'd kill you?!"

"You told me you'd kill me if you saw me again! You threw me out of your building!"

"I tossed you out the front door, there's a difference, and I've apologized for that!" That he'd literally tossed Bilbo out, unaware that the other man was pregnant with their child at the time, was a very sore point with him and it showed on Thorin's face as the two exchanged fighting glares, not only forgetting their audience, but also how happy and relieved they'd been to find the other safe earlier.

"And I accepted your grumbled out apology, as you'll recall! I was simply stating that there are only four people that automatically come to mind that have ever truly wanted me dead and you're one of them!"

"I would never physically hurt you!"

"Now."

More glaring and then both of them sat back against the couch with their arms crossed and their scowling gazes aimed straight ahead, their postures and dangerous vibes making the sergeant squirm quite a bit as he tried not to look either of them in the eye.

)

The next questions were directed at Thorin to discuss his enemies and anyone he knew who might have a grudge against Bilbo. The conversation came to a halt however when the doorbell was rung, the sergeant getting up to see who it was. Since they weren't happy with each other at the moment Thorin and Bilbo just waited in silence, though both their attentions slipped in the direction of the main hallway where they could hear the sounds of a conversation going on, though too low for them to know what was being said. Who had been at the door?

And then the sergeant was walking back into the parlor with a faintly displeased look on his face, the man coming in behind him someone both Thorin and Bilbo recognized immediately.

"Detective Inspector Strider!"

"Bilbo, Mr. Durin." Nodding his head Detective Inspector Aragorn Strider came over to shake both their hands. He lived in the apartment building that Bilbo had lived in before he'd moved, and therefore knew them both fairly well. "I'm sorry to see you both again under these circumstances. I hope Frodo is well?"

"A familiar face is good, not that Sergeant Steward hasn't been doing an excellent job, because he has." Bilbo gave the other man a reassuring smile, since he was obviously a little annoyed his superior was apparently stepping in. "And Frodo's doing really well, he'll be sorry he didn't get a chance to see you. He still has that little wooden sword you gave him."

"Well perhaps I'll get to see him sometime in the future." The inspector smiled before addressing the other comment Bilbo had made since he was well aware of the fact that the sergeant whose case he was about to take over wasn't going to be happy about that.

"And yes, you were lucky to get assigned to Sargent Steward, he's one of our best." Aragorn gave Boromir a nod and then moved to take his sergeant's former seat. "If I didn't believe this was possibly connected to a case I'm working on right now I'd leave this in his hands and trust him to get the job done, and done well. But I do, which is why I'm stepping in here."

Shock and speculation was written all over Boromir's face as he looked back and forth between his superior and Bilbo. "You think this is related to-but he's not the sort who would-"

"Appearances can be deceiving."

"What's going on here? What other case? Did you know he was in some sort of trouble and not even tell him?!" Thorin would have gotten out of his seat and in the other man's face if Bilbo hadn't yanked him back down onto the cushion, telling him to wait a moment and hear Strider out.

Aragorn gave Bilbo a thankful look before assuring Thorin that while it had occurred to him that Bilbo could be in danger he'd ultimately dismissed the idea because he didn't fit the whole profile. He now believed that to have been a mistake on his part and he not only apologized but would explain everything, provided that the two promised to keep the majority of what he was about to tell them to themselves.

After a brief go around about who could and couldn't be told, Thorin insisted on being allowed to tell Dwalin and Bilbo had to tell Gandalf or the man would hound him to death, they came to an agreement and Aragorn clued them in.

"There have been five cases that I've found, spread out all over England. The only thing these five individuals had in common was that they were all experienced online gamers, and that in four of the five cases we've been able to confirm they went out the night of their deaths to meet someone, who we believe they brought home with them afterwards. The crime scenes and the way in which they were all killed all had enough similarities that we made the connections so to speak, but other than the gaming we've had no luck in discovering anything about this bastard until now. Until you."

"What makes you so sure this could be the same guy?" Thorin asked with eyes narrowed, sensing that there was something more that made the inspector think this was the guy he was after.

A hesitation and then a blunt answer. "The knives he left in Bilbo's bed are part of his trademark. It's what tipped the scales enough for me to come here instead of just keeping my eye on things because I know him." And leaving it at that, since he really didn't want to tell the two of them how those knives had been used on the other victims, Aragorn asked Bilbo to tell him every single detail about the date, no matter how small or in sequential.

Squaring his shoulders Bilbo took a deep breath for courage, and then letting it out went through a rundown of everything that had happened and been said between the two of them leading up to, during, and after the blind date from hell.

Once Bilbo was finished with that he gave Strider a physical description of Stoor, his face all scrunched up as he did so.

"I'm surprised his looks alone didn't have you running in the other direction." The guy sounded like the cross between an alien baby and a goblin to Strider.

"Oh believe me, I took one look at him and the first thing that came to mind was that I wouldn't snog him, much less shag him even if I was blindfolded and stuck in a black hole." Bilbo scowled and crossed his arms. "I felt bad about it at the time, I mean one can only help the way one looks so much, but now I wish I'd said it to the git's face. With Thorin there for backup…just in case…seeing as he is probably a serial killer and there would have been silverware for him to attack me with."

Now Bilbo went pale and then sickly green at the mental reminder that he'd actually had half a dinner with a serial killer. No one of his acquaintance was ever going to let him forget it, not to mention this pretty much guaranteed that he was never going on another date with anyone unless Dwalin ran a background check for him first.

"Concentrate on your breathing, there's stuff about breathing in that yoga nonsense, isn't there? And you went through labor as well, breathe like that."

Bilbo glared at Thorin but did indeed concentrate on breathing in and out so that he didn't throw up his lunch or faint. He'd fainted once in front of Thorin, the first day in fact after he'd been let in on just how fucked up the whole company was, and the bastard still made fun of him over it to this day.

"I see you two are getting along better these days."

Strider's comment had Bilbo and Thorin giving him dark looks while Sergeant Boromir just looked confused since to him the two fought like an old married couple who were just too set in their ways to bother with divorcing and instead were trying to verbally bash the other into an early grave.

Judging that Bilbo was up to continuing Strider pushed on. "You'll work with a sketch artist." It wasn't a question, he knew the type of man Bilbo Baggins was and knew the younger man would bend over backwards to try and get justice for those who'd lost their lives already.

"Of course." The idea of describing the creepy bloke again made his stomach hurt, but Bilbo wasn't about to let that stop him. He had a duty to those who'd lost their lives, above and beyond the fact that he wasn't going to get his own life back until this evil creature was caught and locked away in some horrible prison where very bad things would happen to him because he was a horrible person.

"Good. We'll get that taken care of now, and then we'll need to show it to Frodo to find out if it's the same person he saw at the grocer's. I know he's only four and you two don't like the idea, but we need to know if it's not just you he's after, but maybe Frodo as well."

They didn't like it, but both Bilbo and Thorin nodded in grim agreement.

)

Once there was nothing more they could do at the house it was time to head to the station so that Bilbo could work with the sketch artist. Strider had offered to provided him a ride so that Thorin could go and get Frodo, but that idea had barely left the inspector's mouth before Thorin had stated that no, Frodo was fine where he was and he was staying with Bilbo until they were home again. Bilbo didn't argue with that, and so the two headed for Thorin's car and pulled out after Strider, the intent being that they would follow him in to the station.

"How are you feeling?"

"The gingersnaps are helping." Biting into another one, Bilbo tried not to think about what his bedroom looked like at the moment. They'd wanted him to take a peek, see if anything stood out for him as missing, and now the carnage that had been done to his former sanctuary was forever burned into his mind. "I'm going to have to get a new house."

"There are companies that specialize in cleaning up crime scenes."

"I don't care. Frodo and I are never living in that house again."

Knowing that tone, there'd be no swaying him on this, Thorin wasn't about to argue the point. He was just fine with Bilbo and Frodo staying with him, and given how picky Bilbo was when it came to his living space it could be months before the man found something that he deemed good enough for him and their son.

"You should call Frodo now, before we get there. You'll feel better and this could take a while."

Bilbo thought about it and then shook his head. "No, I'll go to pieces if I try and talk to him right now. Gandalf said he's fine and I'll see that for myself soon enough, when I'm closer to being fine." A sideways glance, and then Bilbo's eyes dropped down to stare at the box of gingersnaps he was currently clutching in his hands. "As it is I don't know what I'd have done if you hadn't been with me today to keep me in one piece. I didn't thank you for that before, and I should have. I was just so scared and then you were okay and I was okay but everything else wasn't okay and-I'm very grateful you were here today."

"You're welcome."

Sharing understanding looks, they'd both been emotionally scrapped raw by the day they'd had thus far, the two lapsed into silence for a bit before Bilbo suddenly straightened a little in his seat, excitement coming into his eyes.

"When we get to the station I need to give Aragorn a more complete description of the ring. Maybe they can trace Stoor through it somehow."

"You said it was a gold band, was there anything distinctive about it?" Eyes sharpening, this was something he could help with himself instead of depending on others, Thorin mentally began to list the people he could get in touch with.

"Yes! There were weird symbols around it, almost like they were words but in a language I've never seen before. I'd definitely know it if I saw it, though, and Gandalf could maybe help me if it actually is a language and not just decoration." A frown of concentration. "It definitely didn't come from us or one of our close competitors, I would know."

Heart squeezing at Bilbo referring to Erebor as his, even though it was no doubt just a slip of the tongue, Thorin nodded instead and stated that they now had an assignment for tomorrow. They'd meet with his head designers and see if any of them recognized the symbols.

Bilbo smiled and nodded, glad to have something solid to concentrate on that didn't involve knives or the loss of his home.


	7. Here's You're Safe

Here You're Safe

Sitting in the waiting area Thorin couldn't help but glance in the direction of the jacket resting on the seat beside him. Bilbo's jacket. Someone had really cranked up the heaters in the building and he'd thought nothing of the other man leaving the article of clothing with him until he'd remembered what was in the front pocket of it. Or more precisely, the fact that he'd seen Bilbo sneak something off the floor of his bedroom when Strider had had him go up to look it over and see if there was anything obviously missing. The move had been slick, he'd give Bilbo that, but he'd just managed to catch it out of the corner of his eye. Strider hadn't noticed, and frankly it wasn't a move he would have expected of his former lover so he didn't blame the man for not keeping a closer what on him.

Which begged the question…just what had Bilbo taken?

Fingers literally itching to find out, and he was not a man who took kindly to not having his curiosity appeased, Thorin debated with himself for about five minutes before deciding to take a peek. If it was important to the investigation he'd have to rat Bilbo out or at least make him give the potential clue to Dwalin, and if not he'd stay mum on the whole thing and not even mention the grab.

Pulling the jacket over he slid his hand into the pocket and pulled out what was inside, the object in question turning out to be a CD in a clear case, the kind you bought in bulk from business supply shops. A burned CD as it turned out, that was labeled with a date only.

Putting the CD back into its place Thorin sat back in silent contemplation, eyebrows knitting as he tried to think of why Bilbo would have picked that of all things in the room to protect. The date was from about a month before they'd broken up, and logic would say that it was just one of Bilbo's work recordings. Bilbo had always had a habit of talking outloud and making a recording while he was having brainstorming sessions as a way to make sure he didn't forget anything. He knew the man often transferred those recordings onto his laptop and then discs for future reference because he'd see him do it.

But if this was just a business recording why hide it? Especially old business.

Or was he wrong about what was on it, and something had happened on that date that he wasn't remembering? Things had been crazy then, everyone running around like they'd be faced with the guillotine if they didn't, but he didn't remember anything important so it was probably nothing. And that being the case he couldn't ask Bilbo about it…unless he stated that it had fallen out of the man's pocket. That could work.

He was still debating over that when Strider came over to tell him that Bilbo probably wouldn't be with the artist for much longer.

"That was surprisingly quick."

"Beorn seems to have taught him a lot about drawing portraits and describing facial features. The fact that the bastard scared the bloody hell out of him and seared himself into Bilbo's memory helps as well. He's not deviating from his description one bit."

Intrigued by the fact that Strider had called Bilbo's friend by his first name instead of last, Thorin asked the other man how well he knew Bilbo's artist. It was, after all, always possible that Bilbo was wrong about his friend's loyalty to him and they still had yet to figure out how Stoor had gotten into the house without a key and the codes.

"We've met a few times, once when Bilbo called me over to his flat to help him get it into Beorn's head that if he hunted you down and ripped you to pieces with his bare hands he'd end up in jail for a good portion of his life. Lucky for you the thought of being locked up and therefore unable to take care of Bilbo and Frodo was enough to keep him in line." Aragorn's lips curved ruefully. "When he gets wind of this you're going to want to stay out of his way."

"He doesn't worry me."

"Ask to see some pictures. You'll see why I'm warning you."

Opening his mouth to argue that he could take some artist, Thorin decided not to push that aside until he had seen some pictures. Instead he opted to ask Strider about whether or not they should arrange for Frodo to be kept with Gandalf while Bilbo stayed with him. If there was a chance that the sick fuck would come after his son than he wanted Frodo with him, where he could protect him, but if Frodo would otherwise be left alone it would be better to keep him separate from them for the time being.

"I don't know. The other victims were all younger and none of them had children. As far as we know he got all the others at their first meetings and the lack of destruction in Frodo's room could mean little. Really the only good news I have for you at this point is that his failure to get Bilbo the first time is tripping him up. He's being stupid and that's good for us."

"Then we'll keep him with us for now."

"And I'll continue to hunt this bastard to the ends of the earth if need be."

)

Working with the sketch artist had definitely not been fun, but Bilbo had spent enough time around Beorn and his artist friends to know something about anatomy and the sort of language that they spoke when it came to the human face. So at least he wasn't stuck describing the evil creature for very long, and the artist was thrilled with him which was a nice change of pace really, since he was so little help to anyone otherwise. But finally he was free to go and with Thorin headed out to pick up Frodo.

The drive was long and quiet, neither of them really in the mood for talking, especially since they knew that once they got to their destination Gandalf would question them within an inch of their lives.

When they finally arrived and were let in by the maid they were ushered them into the library where they found Gandalf and Charles playing chess while Frodo cheered them both on, though he deserted them for his parents as soon as he saw them in the doorway.

Much cuddling resulted, followed by Charles taking Frodo out to go and collect the drawings he'd done earlier, leaving the other three behind to discuss the situation they found themselves in.

To say Gandalf hit the roof was an understatement.

It took some doing to convince the older man that they all shouldn't move in with him and Charles, but it was decided that if Stoor wasn't caught before he tried again Frodo would come and stay with Gandalf until the bastard had finally been hunted down and incarcerated. Or killed. It depended on who found him first.

That Gandalf was onboard for the second option was obvious.

Not even bothering to reason with them, he was at the end of his tether as it was, Bilbo just hugged Gandalf back as tightly as the man was hugging him, promising to call him twice every day and to keep him informed of what was going on.

"Good boy. You know your mother will come back from the dead to haunt me if anything happens to you on my watch."

"Thorin's got me covered."

"That's what I'm counting on."

Thankfully they couldn't talk about Stoor for long before Frodo was demanding their attention again, so after some final good byes and not so subtle hints and references to what had happened they headed out, Frodo doing all the talking as he told them about his visit with Radagast, the weird food he'd had for dinner with stuff he mangled pronouncing, and most especially all the fun he'd had sitting on Charles's lap and then racing through the hallways at top speed. It was definitely one of his favorite things to do.

Both of them egging him on, Frodo kept them occupied for the whole trip back to Thorin's place and the rest of the evening before they tucked him into bed for the night, keeping his door open just a crack so that if he called out for them they'd be more likely to hear him.

And now here they were, standing in the hallway, neither really knowing what to say to the other.

"He conked pretty quickly."

Grateful for the easy to discuss topic Bilbo even managed to work up a smile. "Gandalf, being Gandalf, no doubt gave him all the sugar he could want while he was there."

"Sounds about right." Thorin gave Bilbo's curls a careless stroke before awkwardly dropping his hand away. "I'm going to turn in, sleep well."

Returning the sentiment Bilbo watched Thorin walk over to his bedroom and head in, noting that Thorin was also leaving his door slightly open. Smiling over that for real, Bilbo sighed and then made his way to his own room, leaving his door open a little too.

He was glad to get out of his clothes anyway, Bilbo thought as he undressed, pretty sure he never wanted to look at them again, much less wear them. They could join the rest of his clothes back home in being given away to the less fortunate once he could arrange it. He couldn't bear the idea of wearing something that monster had touched with his bloody hands. The very idea made him feel sick to his stomach.

Thorin would think him foolish of course, but he didn't care. Besides, shopping would at the very least take his mind off things for a bit, and he so very much didn't want to think about the mess he'd landed himself into this time.

At least the last time he'd landed himself in a pickle of this magnitude he'd gotten Frodo out of the deal.

Laughing in spite of himself, and that did make him feel a little better, Bilbo finished dressing and then debated what to do next. It was actually still relatively early after all, and there was work on his laptop he could do or read perhaps. There was a telly in his room as well, but the idea that he might pick a program that showed violence of any sort turned him right off the idea. A bath perhaps…no…the idea of being naked as the day he was born and Stoor suddenly breaking in had Bilbo not only violently shaking his head, but had the ache in his stomach doubling. Bypassing the bed completely as a result, his arms wrapped tightly around his body, Bilbo walked over to the window seat instead, curling up there as he stared out the window at the back gardens.

Touching his fingers to the cool glass Bilbo sighed and wondered just how things could have gone so wrong. He was living with Thorin for gosh sakes! They hadn't even really lived together when they were actually dating!

Not that he hadn't thought they'd end up living together, he'd foolishly allowed himself to imagine that for far too long when he and Thorin had still been together and happy. He could imagine it now, foolish as that was, while sitting here. That this was as much his house as Thorin's, and that they'd just had one of their fights and so he was sleeping in one of the guest rooms to cool down and make the dumb idiot miss him enough to come crawling back. Most of their fights had been Thorin's fault after all. And just like always he'd come stomping in, scowling like he'd been sucking on lemons, and mumble something that barely resembled an apology. Then he'd snog the brains out of him until he was nothing but putty in Thorin's hands, and man, no one did make up sex like Thorin Durin.

Sighing dreamily at the thought, Bilbo leaned his head against the window pane as he remembered being ravished against any number of flat surfaces in both their offices. They'd fought more at work than anywhere else after all. And he'd noticed before, the last time he'd been in Thorin's office, that the other man's hadn't had the scratches sanded off the one desk leg yet. He'd done that one night, after a particularly bad argument that had ended with clothes being torn off and him searching for something to hold onto while Thorin's beard had been scratching up his inner thighs something fierce and Thorin's mouth and tongue had been driving him near to insanity. The order to keep his hands to himself had meant he couldn't hold onto Thorin, and his feet had been up in the air so to speak, so he'd grabbed the desk leg and scratched it with his nails during climax.

Thorin had been ridiculously smug afterwards.

He'd had a right to be so.

Sighing again Bilbo allowed himself wallow in those memories as the minutes ticked by, a singular, very appealing thought worming its way into his consciousness the more he sat there and thought about both the past and his currently very messed up present.

A very appealing thought.

)

In the army you pretty much learned to sleep when you could get it or paid for it dearly later. So he really should be sleeping, though lightly at the moment, but Thorin found himself unable to do so as he sat with his back against his headboard, a scowl on his face. The last part was mostly due to the fact that he knew Bilbo probably needed him right about now, the reality of the situation they found themselves in having had a chance to completely sink in, but there was nothing he could do about that because he was fairly sure that in the long run he'd just make things worse. He was utter pants when it came to that sort of thing unless it was Frodo, who threw off dark moods amazingly well so long as he was cuddled a bit.

Call him crazy but he didn't imagine that his ex would take kindly to being picked up and set on his lap.

Not that Bilbo hadn't spent time on his lap of course, Thorin thought with a chuckle, but in those cases the point hadn't been to cuddle per say. Occasionally it had sort of started out like that but he was only human, and having that sweet, round bottom snuggled up against his crotch or within easy reach for fondling had pretty much guaranteed the embraces hadn't stayed somewhat platonic for long.

Perhaps if they had things would have been better, but again, only human here, with a definite weakness for one Bilbo Baggins.

But maybe he should go and check on him, just in case, though that was liable to get Bilbo's nose all out of joint. The stubborn git would no doubt tear into him for so much as suggesting that he might need him to lean on. Of course he'd used to look forward to their little arguments since they'd so often ended with them mostly naked and shagging like bloody rabbits.

Thorin was fairly sure one would be hard pressed to find a flat surface in his office that didn't deserve to be bronzed for the action it had seen during those months he and Bilbo had been together. Especially his desk.

Full out grinning, especially when he thought of the scratches he still couldn't help but get an ego boost over even after all this time, Thorin was about to get out of bed and get dressed, maybe work out in his home gym for a bit, when his door opened and Bilbo's head popped into view.

"Am I disturbing you?"

He was, though not in the way he meant, but Thorin didn't say so as he told him to come in.

Watching as Bilbo entered, the slightly too big for him pajamas were utterly adorable, Thorin did his best to simply look mildly curious when the other man came to a stop on his side of the bed, Bilbo's face unreadable which was never a good sign. That was usually cause for worry, actually.

"Couldn't sleep?"

Bilbo shook his head, the fact that he was playing with the hem of his pajama top a clear indication that the man was indeed up to something. "I'm surprised you're still awake actually."

"My mind's too busy to sleep at the moment."

"Mine too. I was hoping you could help me with that."

At a complete loss as to where Bilbo could be going with this Thorin raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"I don't want to think or sleep or dream tonight."

It was the look in Bilbo's eyes that gave the words their proper meaning, Thorin just barely able to stop his jaw from dropping down in surprise. Thankfully his next thoughts revolved around just how he could go about giving Bilbo exactly what he wanted.

Lifting up his covers with a gleam in his own eyes, Thorin smiled knowingly as he had the pleasure of watching color flare in Bilbo's cheeks and lust darken his eyes as Bilbo looked at him.

"You still sleep in the nude I see."

"I keep pajama bottoms under my pillow when Frodo's here."

"Good idea." And while he watched Bilbo shucked out of his own pajama bottoms and held then out to him. "Put mine under the other pillow for me, please."

Grinning, he'd always found it adorable and strangely sexy how Bilbo could get all prim and proper when it came to shagging despite how decidedly improper he could be with the right motivation, Thorin took the offered article of clothing and turning put it under the pillow before turning back just in time to watch Bilbo finish unbuttoning his shirt.

So it was his turn to let his eyes run hungrily while Bilbo folded the shirt up and set it aside, Thorin holding the blankets up again for him, grabbing and pulling Bilbo under him as soon as he was in reach so that he had the other man pinned down in exactly the position they both wanted to be in.

"Thorin."

Loving the feel of Bilbo's fingers as they grazed his beard before getting lost in his hair Thorin obeyed the unspoken command and lowered his head to claim what was his, Bilbo's lips eagerly meeting his.


	8. Like Old Times

Like Old Times

No matter how long they'd been apart, here in bed together it was as if their time together as a couple had never ended at all. They'd had time before things had gotten rocky and their every waking minute had been consumed by Erebor to learn each other, to become true lovers before they'd been lucky to sneak in a quick one that took off the edge but hadn't satisfied the hunger. So as their lips moved against each other's, Bilbo luxuriating in the feel of Thorin's hard body on top of his, the two revisiting that earlier time and proving to the other, with ever touch, that they'd never forgotten those first couple months when here they'd been perfect.

Squirming and moaning when Thorin started nibbling on one of his ears, they'd always been as terribly sensitive as they were strangely pointed, Bilbo returned the favor by speaking in Gaelic in the husky tone he knew drove Thorin crazy. The other man didn't speak or understand the language so Thorin didn't actually understand what he was saying, but Thorin was smart enough to get that what he said was sexual in content and Thorin loved to shag him until he wasn't capable of speaking any language. For himself it increased his pleasure telling Thorin all the things he wanted him to do to him, how good something felt using very naughty language that he would normally never have uttered. But since no one could play his body so skillfully as Thorin, he'd figured out early on that using a language Thorin couldn't understand was the only way to keep himself from blurting out his thoughts in English and consequently dying of embarrassment.

Though what a way to go.

Bowing his back to put his body more on display when Thorin sat back on his heels to appreciate the view, Bilbo wasn't the least self-conscious as Thorin's eyes moved hungrily over every dip and curve. With others he would have been, but he knew that Thorin loved his body and wouldn't have him any other way, least of all skinny. He'd shown him that in too many ways to count over the years.

Trembling a little when Thorin lifted his hand to trail a single finger down his body, God it had been so very, very long since he'd been touched like this, Bilbo said to hell with being subtle and told Thorin in plain English that he wanted his hands all over him right now.

"So impatient, Little One. We have all night, remember? No sleeping."

Melting a little at the pet name, Thorin hadn't called him that in years, Bilbo switched to the big eyes look, which usually melted Thorin's resistance every time.

"Playing dirty as always. But then I do like you that way, don't I?"

Making a sound of agreement as Thorin shifted back on top of him, their lips meeting again, Bilbo threaded his fingers through Thorin's long hair and gave the strands a solid tug for emphasis, making his desire and need that much plainer. He loved the way the man's hair acted like a curtain, shielding them from view so that they were in their own little world together.

And thankfully it wasn't long before Thorin was ordering him to remove his hands and grab ahold of the spindles that were a part of the bed's headboard, he wasn't to move them without permission.

"I understand."

Doing as he was told, eager to, Bilbo watched from under his lashes as Thorin worked his way down his body, revisiting his favorite spots with focused, thorough attention that soon had him doing a great more squirming and demanding in Gaelic, which eventually deteriorated to moans and curses as Thorin's very talented mouth and tongue tortured him while the man's beard scraped against the soft skin of his inner thighs.

Finally Thorin moved away to retrieve the lubricant, telling him to roll over while he did so. Happy to do it, especially since he had a little surprise in store for the man, Bilbo did as he was bade and got comfortable on his stomach, keeping his hands on the headboard since he hadn't been told to do otherwise.

Getting up on his knees when Thorin's fingers started to knead his arse cheeks, so close, so close, Bilbo made a sound of triumphant pleasure when Thorin let go long enough to slick his fingers and then apply one of them between his cheeks to stroke the opening there.

"You already loosened yourself up for me."

Taking a moment to bask in the erotic tone of Thorin's growled out words, he was just too sexy, Bilbo made happy sounds in the back of his throat as he easily took the two fingers Thorin gave him, arching into them to take them as deeply as he could. The truth of the matter was that he knew himself too well to think he could last long where Thorin's was concerned, especially given the fact that it had been months since they'd done this last, so loosening himself up before coming over had seemed the wisest decision least their impatience get the better of them.

They wouldn't be able to do this over and over again if his arse wasn't up to it.

"Denying me the pleasure of opening you up, you know you'll have to be punished for that, Little One."

Shivering with anticipation Bilbo agreed that yes, he knew, and was ready for it.

So as promised Thorin spent the night and morning 'punishing' him, all the while keeping anything remotely resembling a nightmare far, far away.

)

Opening his eyes, Thorin's first cognitive thought was that if he were a cat he'd be stretching and purring like mad right about now as he mentally relieved the last eight hours or so. Holy hell, what a night. And morning, come to that. Previous encounters between them had certainly been memorable, but between their work schedules and exhaustion they'd never had the energy for a sexual marathon of this magnitude before. They'd certainly missed out.

Looking downward Thorin smiled over the fact that Bilbo's hair was all that was visible thanks to the way his ex had burrowed under the covers and against him, no surprise there since he'd always been the snuggling type. He'd forgotten, actually, how good to felt to wake up with Bilbo cuddled up against him, lying so trustingly in his arms like that was precisely where he was meant to be. They'd had sex since splitting up, but this was the first time Bilbo had stuck around for them to wake together. The question of whether or not there would be a repeat later, well he'd do his damnest to make it happen even if he had to bribe Bilbo with ice cream in bed.

Hell, there wasn't a lot he wouldn't do at the moment to hear Bilbo talk dirty to him with that sexy Scottish burr. The fact that the other man had no idea that he usually understood the just of what Bilbo was saying to him just made the whole thing that much sexier. Not that he'd lied all those years ago when he'd said that English was the only language he spoke, it was, but he'd been stationed in Scotland for a while in the army which meant he'd picked up the less polite aspects of the country's official language. And yes some things got lost in translation so to speak, but he'd done his research and steadily added to his vocabulary while they were together. That Bilbo had never realized that he'd ultimately always gotten the things he begged for was just proof of how completely and totally he turned Bilbo's normally sharp brain into mush when they were shagging.

He hoped it stayed that way.

When the knocking on the door came Thorin knew immediately who it was, having just enough time to wiggle into his hastily retrieved pajama bottoms before the door opened and Frodo came running into the room, the boy stopping short with a very confused look on his face as he took in the fact that there was someone else in his papa's bed. But recognizing that bump Frodo continued over, climbing up and onto the bed from Bilbo's side.

Kneeling on the covers Frodo cocked his head to the side questioningly. "Why is Daddy in here?"

Thorin jumped on the first excuse that came to mind. "He had bad dreams."

Nodding in understanding Frodo gave his daddy's blanket covered shoulder a comforting pat and then got to the main point of his visit, which was the question of when was breakfast.

"Get dressed and then go downstairs and have some fruit from the bowl to tide you over. Your daddy and I will be down just as soon as we shower and get dressed too."

"Okay!"

Question answered Frodo scrambled off the bed and back onto the floor, turning his attention back to his parents only long enough to confirm that he could watch some toons on the telly until breakfast was ready before heading back to his room to get dressed for the day.

As soon as the door had closed behind their son Thorin lifted the covers away from Bilbo's face to find that it was currently red with embarrassment. "Playing possum, were you?"

Bilbo stuck out his tongue. "At least you had something other than the blankets on."

He had to chuckle. "I'd have protected your virtue."

"Right." Rolling over and onto his back, Bilbo retrieved the pajama bottoms under his pillow and put them on before throwing aside the covers to get out of bed.

Not in any hurry to help the other man cover up, especially when he'd left his claim all over the creamy, freckled curves for his enjoyment, Thorin sighed but handed over Bilbo's shirt when it was asked for, pushing aside his own covers then since they did need to get downstairs before Frodo came looking for them.

Coming around the bed as Bilbo finished buttoning up his top even though he really didn't need to, he was just crossing the hall and no one would see him after all, Thorin couldn't help but smile. "You're going to have to wear a turtleneck today."

"I don't doubt it." Bilbo ran a hand through his messy curls, his hair currently resembled a rat's nest, with an expression on his face that was both resigned and somewhat amused. "I'm going to go then, I'll see you downstairs."

Watching him go, the sight of Bilbo's back one that brought far too many bad memories to the surface, Thorin found himself risking rejection with his next words.

"While you're staying with me…you're welcome to join me here whenever you like."

His words had Bilbo stopping in his tracks, his ex not moving a muscle for several drawn out heartbeats before he looked over his shoulder, meeting his gaze.

"Then we have plans for tonight."

Watching Bilbo slip out this time with his smile back on his face, Thorin only just managed to restrain himself from pumping a fist in the air. He was far too old for that after all. But he kept smiling while he got ready for the day ahead, and was still in the best mood he'd been in a very long time when he headed down the stairs to go and find the other two members of his family.

As it turned out he'd beaten Bilbo down, and after checking to make sure Frodo was indeed dressed and eating something healthy, he was, Thorin headed for the kitchen to make eggs and soldiers. It was one of the few things he could make as well as Bilbo could, and Frodo was fond of it as well.

Five minutes into his preparations Bilbo walked into the room, frowning down at his phone as he came over to stand at his side.

"A message from Strider?"

"No. I'm expecting a message or call from Beorn and I'm not getting either. I mean the man constantly forgets his phone or to recharge it, not to mention all the ones he's destroyed accidentally or on purpose because he and technology don't often get along, so it's stupid to worry but-"

"But?"

"Strider said the one thing all of Stoor's targets had in common is that they were gamers. Beorn isn't one in the typical sense, but he does play around on Middle Earth because he helped with the character designs and such and is one of the original creators. But it's stupid to worry, I mean if he's going for gamers he obviously prefers victims who wouldn't stand much of a chance against him normally. Gamers are the people who get their arses handed to them at school, not the ones doing the whopping. Beorn would flatten him like a bug, probably on sight. Plus I think he's even less interested in dating than I am, and if he showed up on Beorn's property all his pets would attack Stoor before he got near the door. I'm being stupid."

Doing his best to ignore the flash of jealousy he felt, no easy task, that, Thorin soothed himself a little by leaning over to take a nip at Bilbo's ear before stating that Strider had said Beorn was the type who could take care of himself. So yes, he should stop worrying.

"You're right. So what can I do to help?"

"Set the table?"

"On it."

)

After breakfast they all got into Thorin's car and headed for Erebor, the plan being that Frodo would spend the day in the company daycare. Technically he was too old for that, but seeing as he was the president's son allowance would be made. Plus he'd spend time there before when something had come up while he was staying with Thorin and Frodo liked playing with the little ones, and the caregivers knew he wouldn't be a problem. If he got bored he could come up to spend time with his parents or someone else they felt comfortable leaving him with if they were otherwise occupied.

"Gimli!" Delighted to see his friend Frodo raced over to join the little redheaded boy, the two immediately absorbed in the picture book the toddler had been looking at.

"I think he'll be fine."

"They know not to let him go anywhere without checking with us first, right?" Worrying his bottom lip with his teeth Bilbo couldn't tap down his nerves. He knew that Bifur and Nori were both outside the entrance to the daycare, and would remain there so long as Frodo was there, but if Stoor found some other way to get in, and in the film and on the telly there was always another way in…if anything happened to his baby because of him he'd never forgive himself.

Thorin gave his shoulder a squeeze. "He'll be fine. And the bracelet I gave him this morning has a tracer in it."

It took a moment for Bilbo to compute that, his jaw dropping a little. "You bugged our son?"

"I didn't think it could hurt."

Grabbing Thorin by his suit's lapels Bilbo put everything he had into a kiss that would have had steam coming out of the other man's ears if such a thing were possible.

Once his point was made, with a nip to Thorin's bottom lip to add an exclamation point to his thanks, Bilbo turned him loose and grinned at him widely. "It's times like this I remember I was into your mind as much as your body back in the day."

"Likewise."

Very pleased by the rather dazed look in Thorins' eyes Bilbo did his best not to look too smug as he turned his attention to their plans for the morning.

"All right then, off to see your people about that ring design, correct?"

"Follow me."

The man they went to see had been with the company forever, and knew everything there was to know about the jewelry produced by both Erebor and every other company in the business worth knowing about. Only Balin would know more, but neither Bilbo nor Thorin wanted to bug the older gentleman with the mess they found themselves in unless absolutely necessary.

Asked to describe the ring Bilbo was upfront about the fact that the gold ring itself hadn't been remotely distinctive, only the odd symbols carved into it.

"What did the symbols look like?"

"I would say that it looked like a language, but it's not one I recognize and I actually do know something about that sort of thing. To me it looked like someone had squished together the English letters p, q, c, and m, along with other weird lines that weren't letter like at all. There were spaces, which made them look like they could be words since it wasn't an unbroken pattern…but still, it's probably a shot in the dark."

"Not necessarily."

A thoughtful, yet oddly troubled look on his face, the man slowly walked over to a very dented filing cabinet and began sorting through the files within it, dust flying up and papers sticking out haphazardly between the folders. As Thorin's employee went from drawer to drawer searching for something the man talked to himself under his breath in a voice too low for either of them to catch a word, much less what he was puzzling out. But something told them both it wasn't good.

Finally he retrieved a slim folder from the haphazard filing system Bilbo was very glad he'd never had to deal with, Thorin's had been bad enough, and the old man made his way back over to his desk while brushing off the dust that had apparently accumulated on the folder.

"How old is that folder?" As it was Bilbo couldn't imagine why it hadn't been thrown out years ago. One of the first things he'd done when he'd worked here was force everyone to put all important data, including archival information about the company, on the computer and backed up on discs.

"Older than all our ages combined, Boy." Flipping through the papers within the man withdrew one of them, and then flipping it over sent it spinning across the desk in Bilbo's direction. "Look familiar?"

Picking up the paper with the symbols written out across it Bilbo's eyes widened in excitement. "This is it! These symbols, they're just like the ones on the ring. Not exactly right, but it's the weird language slash not language. You're a genius even if your filing system hurts my head!"

Taking the sheet from Bilbo's hands Thorin studied it, talking to himself as opposed to them as he stated that he could see what Bilbo meant about the design, but he didn't recognize it at all. It certainly wasn't one of theirs.

"No, Mr. Durin. It mostly certainly is NOT one of ours." The wizened face scrunched up with old distaste. "But it's fitting, horrible as it is, that a dangerous man is apparently wearing one of those cursed rings upon his finger."


	9. The Ring

The Ring

The old man had them sit down and then he began to tell them the story behind the design etched out on the old paper that lay ominously between them on the desk. The story took place during the rule of Queen Victoria, and revolved around a man known as Sauron Mordor. A man of great wealth and social clot, the highborn man gathered together some of the best and brightest London had to offer in a club of sorts. Inventors and artists, forward thinkers and powerful members of the aristocracy, all flocked at the chance to be part of his special circles. Those closest to him were gifted with rings inscribed with a language created by the group, and all wore them proudly as a symbol of their status in the changing society. Or they did before it was revealed that Sauron was also The Necromancer, a notorious criminal and murderer who'd been taking over London's underworld and schemed to take over the country itself for years at that point.

Those with the moral strength and will to break away from the man did so, casting aside their rings and rising against the man they'd once called friend. Many were too afraid to turn against him, or craved some of his power, but in the end Sauron had been killed by his enemies, though his legend carried on in some circles. For it was said that Sauron had dabbled in the darkest of arts, corrupting the rings he'd given his 'friends' with his evil, using them to control all who wore them with the ring he himself had worn always.

"It's even said that the only reason he was killed in the first place was that the finger wearing the ring was cut off first, cutting him off from the dark powers it granted him. What became of the ring…well that's the stuff of legends as well to those who seek it, believing the stories of its power to be true. Most have long forgotten, but I keep my eyes out for mention of them, particular the One Ring."

"Why?" Bilbo couldn't begin to imagine why someone would want to own such a horrible piece of history. It was worse than the Arkenstone in his opinion, and that was saying something in his books.

"Because I held one of the rings once, and there was evil in it." The old man told him bluntly. "They all need to be destroyed, melted down and discarded forever."

Thorin just shook his head at the idea. "So what you're saying is that if we can research the families whose ancestors owned one of the rings we might be able to find who we're looking for."

"No. Unfortunately no." And now the old man gave Bilbo a look of true pity. "If he's right and the design on the ring he saw is not identical to what's drawn on that paper…then what he saw was The One Ring. All others were identical in inscription save for Sauron's."

While Bilbo noticeably paled Thorin thanked the old man for his time and then excused them, Thorin taking the file full of information when it was offered before steering Bilbo out of the man's office before he could be further traumatized.

Once they were in the elevator on the way up to the top floor Thorin looked down at the still pale man beside him and just barely managed to stop himself from rolling his eyes. "You're letting your overactive imagination get the best of you again. The fact that your stalker is possibly in the possession of a ring once owned by another murderer does not make him any more dangerous."

"Says the man with no imagination."

Taking that as personal challenge Thorin dropped his hand from where it had been resting at the small of Bilbo's back and gave the man's right bum cheek a quick rub. "We'll see about that later. Especially given the plans I already have for you."

Color returned to Bilbo's cheeks with extra pink to spare, the look he gave Thorin one the man recognized immediately as the 'Not while we're at work, Mister' look he'd once seen nearly every day in this building. But just like back then Bilbo wasn't moving away either, allowing him to stand close and place his hand possessively back on the small of Bilbo's back.

And instead of commenting on that liberty Bilbo changed the subject back to the ring. "I'll email Strider when we get up there, about the ring and what we've learned. Maybe it will help with the investigation."

Figuring it couldn't hurt Thorin agreed that that was a good idea. He'd use all Erebor's connections as well to try and find out more. He would find out something before the guarda did, he was sure, and pass whatever he learned along to them.

"Do you want me to contact that companies you don't like talking to unless you absolutely have to?"

Knowing exactly what companies Bilbo meant, the ones the man had gone behind his back to when he'd been struggling to hold onto Erebor, Thorin had to force himself not to grimace, saying instead that he'd talk to them. The presidents of those two companies had pissed him off good and proper on a number of occasions because of his ousting of Bilbo during the negotiations, and he didn't fancy reminding them of those events by letting Bilbo represent him in any capacity.

"Fine. But try to be nice seeing as you'll be asking them for a favor technically."

Okay, now he had to scowl, though thankfully Bilbo had the sense not to push him any further.

)

Hours later Bilbo sat at what he'd become to think of as his conference table, bopping his head along with the music playing on his laptop through his earbuds as he used it to drone out his non-work related thoughts and worries. He was doing pretty well really, right up until Rihanna's solo version of 'Love The Way You Lie' came on, jarring him from his numbers and spreadsheets. He'd listened to this song a LOT during the last two months of his relationship with Thorin, relating to it to the point where he'd felt it was their theme song in a twisted sort of way. Yes he knew some versions of this particular song were about outright physical abuse, which wasn't the case between him and Thorin, but the idea of a twisted relationship that was poisonous, but staying out of love and an almost obsessive need for the other person…that was something he knew very well.

Or so he'd thought at the time, Bilbo thought as he let the lyrics play out in his head, revisiting past memories with lingering sadness. He'd mellowed a little there after all this time, though their relationship had definitely not been healthy either. How could it have been when Thorin had been all but married to his stupid, fecking company before they'd even met!

Wallowing in that until the song finished Bilbo automatically hit pause, letting the silence hang for several moment before he made the deliberate choice to exit his play all music setting and instead went to the individual playlists to select his 'Empowering' playlist. From there he scrolled down until he came to 'I Will Survive', which much more suited the mindset he wanted to be in. Clicking onto that, the intro already bringing a smile back to his face, Bilbo began singing along with it softly, almost back in his work groove when he finally realized that he was being watched.

Of course it would be Thorin.

Cheeks flushing, there was no way Thorin hadn't heard him singing along given the size of the jerk's smirk, Bilbo gave him a censoring look as he removed his earbuds to oh so politely inquire as to why he was being interrupted, his tone of voice making it clear he wouldn't mind bashing the man's head in with his laptop for eavesdropping.

Rather than answer right away Thorin walked over and pulled out the chair beside him, taking a seat as he ignored the question and posed one of his own. "What were you listening to before you were surviving?"

"You came here to talk about my taste in music?"

"Just answer the question."

"You didn't answer mine." Bilbo pointed out, scowling right back at Thorin when the man did the same. He wasn't about to be cowed though, and he had asked his question first.

"It's lunch time. I came to eat with you." To prove it Thorin set the lunch bag Bilbo hadn't noticed on the table in front of them.

Since he had definitely remembered to give Thorin his lunch before they'd parted ways for the day, as its current presence confirmed, Bilbo knew very well there was no reason for Thorin to be eating with him aside for the obvious reason, which was that he wanted to. This of course made him equal parts happy and suspicious, though after the night and morning they'd had Bilbo decided to play nice so that there would be a repeat that night. So he answered the question of what song he'd been listening to before belatedly realizing that the question suggested that Thorin had been watching him a lot longer than he'd realized. Dammit!

"Why does that song make you sad?" Thorin didn't know it, he preferred the oldies, but he vaguely recalled that Rhianna was some pop star who, like most of her ilk, spent a great deal of time mostly naked onstage.

Not about to go into why that particular song affected him so Bilbo simply replied that it was a sad song, hoping that Thorin would drop the topic.

"I see." His tone making it clear he knew there was more to it than that, Thorin could be annoyingly observant when he didn't want the older man to be, Bilbo instead got up from the table to get his own lunch from the mini fridge before he said something he'd regret.

To say he was not at all happy to find Thorin playing around with his laptop when he turned around with his retrieved lunch bag and juice in hand was an understatement. "Thorin!"

Thorin just smirked and pointed his thumb in the direction of the screen. "You have your music sorted by mood. That's bloody anal, even for you. And what's this 'After T' and 'Before T'? And why do you have a section marked 'Frodo'?"

As he'd sooner bash his own head in with his laptop then admit that those were songs related to his relationship with Thorin Bilbo simply scowled and marched back over to very smartly close the top of his laptop before Thorin could access any of those files. "How many times do I have to tell you not to play around on my laptop? I know your skull is thicker than most, Thorin, but even you were taught some manners!"

"I was simply curious as to why the title for that playlist was 'Empowering'." Not looking at all repentant Thorin actually smirked at him over the rim of his own juice bottle before taking a healthy sip, again asking what the titles meant when he'd swallowed.

Glaring still, Bilbo belatedly realized that the fates had cut him a little slack with that third file that had caught his ex's eye. Thank God. Because as much as Thorin loved to ruffle his feathers, the man adored their son more. So instead of continuing to argue he opened his laptop up again and accessing Frodo's file went to the first file labeled 'Frodo Singing', and clicked on that while tugging the earbuds' cord out so that they could both hear the sound of their son singing as the first of his many recordings of Frodo singing began to play.

Just that easily, Thorin was caught, hook, line and sinker.

Turning his attention to his own lunch Bilbo began eating, glancing at Thorin out of the corner of his eyes every few moments to find the man doing the same absently, most of the man's attention focused on the music even though Frodo had definitely not taken after Thorin's side when it came to his singing abilities. Thorin actually had a beautiful voice, very deep and haunting, while both he and Frodo could carry a tune, but that was about the kindest thing you could say about their singing talents.

But that didn't matter to Thorin, Bilbo thought to himself, unaware of how his gaze had softened lovingly as he watched his son's father. Because it was Frodo singing it was the sweetest music in Thorin's books. It didn't surprise him that Thorin wanted a copy once they were finished eating, and Bilbo promised to have one for him before the end of the day. The kiss Thorin gave him before he left the room to get back to work did surprise him…and pleased him as much as Thorin's love for their son did.

)

Once he was back in his office Thorin went online to use what was left of his lunch break to look up the song on Youtube, scowling when the title he typed in led him to a version with Eminem, the mere thought of listening to rap music making him want to stab himself with his own letter opener. Then he remembered Bilbo's exact phrasing and found the Rhianna version, sitting back in his seat to listen to it and see why it would touch Bilbo so much. And though he knew himself not to be the most intuitive or emotional of men Thorin was pretty sure that he got it by the time the song ended.

It was like their former relationship had a theme song.

Shaking his head at the thought, especially since he imagined that they both viewed themselves as the one who'd gotten burned, Thorin listened to the song one more time and then exited out of the site entirely, staring at his computer's background with a peevish look on his face. He didn't like that Bilbo saw them that way, even though he understood why he would and even agreed with the idea to a certain extent. They had both behaved badly towards the end, and they had hurt each other deliberately since even if they could and did justify what they'd done to the other. Or so it seemed, so their intentions really didn't matter when you got right down to it. They'd really fucked things up between them, and the fact that they were able to live in the same house together without killing each other really was a minor miracle given their past history together.

The thought that he wanted them to at least be friends crossed Thorin's mind, but the sad fact was that he wouldn't know where to start at this point even if he were to make the effort. He was well aware that he sucked at apologies, and his previous ones had never seemed to penetrate Bilbo's equally hard head, much less the man's heart. That they were remotely comfortable with each other at this point was largely due to their determination to not be the sort of parents who made their child miserable because they couldn't be adults around each other.

Hmmm. There was a thought.

Getting out of his chair before he could talk himself out of what he was about to do, Thorin headed out and asked his secretary to hold down the fort just a bit longer, he'd be back in about ten minutes or so. Thankfully the woman was always trying to get him to take proper breaks so she didn't yell at him, and so Thorin made his successful escape to the elevator and rode it down to the section set aside for the daycare.

His men were guarding the entrance as they should be, and after giving them both a nod Thorin headed in to find his son working away with a group of slightly younger kids who seemed very impressed with Frodo's Lego building expertise.

"Hi, Papa!" Beaming a smile Frodo got to his feet and rushed over to greet him, asking him if it was time to go home already. If it was could he have ten more minutes, please?

"You're here for a few more hours, I'm afraid. I just have a question for you."

"Oh." Puffing up over the idea that he might know something his papa didn't, Frodo beamed that much more. "What do you want to know?"

"I was thinking we'd give your daddy a break from cooking tonight and go out somewhere. Do you know where he might like to go?

Even as he asked it belatedly occurred to Thorin that Frodo was far more likely to pick a place the boy wanted to go then Bilbo, but he'd asked and there was always a chance Frodo would know something about his other father's preferences.

"Rivendell." Frodo told him after a pause. "He likes it a lot but he doesn't go cause it's expensive."

Opening and closing his mouth Thorin thought, not for the first time, that his son was a genius. Ironically enough he'd been to Rivendell twice with Bilbo in the past, once for a business meeting and the other time just the two of them as an apology for the indigestion he'd given the other man the first time. They'd spent the whole meeting fighting, which had meant Bilbo hadn't been able to appreciate the food properly that first outing. It was a fancy and pretentious place, he'd hated it, but there was no denying that Bilbo had really appreciated the second visit and the fact that he'd done it for him.

"Good idea." Thorin gave Frodo's curls a ruffle. "I'll see if I can get us reservations there for your daddy."

"Yay." Thrilled beyond words that his fathers were getting along so well currently, Frodo was happy to have a part in keeping things the way they were at the moment. He wanted them to be a real family more than anything else in the whole wide world.

"Okay, you go back and play with the toys and I'll see to everything else."

"Kay."

Trusting that his papa would get the reservations Frodo was about to go back and rejoin the other kids when something occurred to him that had him calling his papa back. "You gots to tell him early if we're going." Frodo advised his papa. "Cause it's fancy."

Seeing the wisdom of the suggestion Thorin assured him that he would do precisely that.


	10. A Sorta Date

A Sorta Date

Thorin said a prayer of thanks for giving him a son as smart as Frodo a number of times after his secretary secured reservations at the resturaunt for them, working her magic on whoever was in charge of that sort of thing at Rivendell. Either way Bilbo had been ecstatic when he'd told him where they were going for dinner, all but jumping with joy in fact, and he'd even got a quick kiss out of it before the other man had turned his attention to worrying about clothes and whether or not he and Frodo had suitable attire at the house. And thanks to Frodo Thorin wasn't even surprised when Bilbo made it absolutely clear that they would have to go back to the house first to change, simply nodding and assuring him that they would leave work a little early so that there would be time to do so.

More brownie points for him.

To earn more points he didn't say anything when Bilbo insisted on picking out his clothes for him when they got home either, since apparently Bilbo didn't trust him to know what was appropriate to wear to a fancy restaurant of this calibre. So instead of arguing Thorin opted to go along with it on the condition that Bilbo helped him take the suit off once they got back to the house, which Bilbo had agreed to with a definite gleam in his eyes before going off to help their son get ready too.

In both their opinions Frodo looked absolutely adorable in his suit and little bow tie, and Bilbo always looked good in a suit as far as Thorin was concerned as he gave his ex a thorough once over once they were all ready to go. There was something about seeing Bilbo all buttoned up and turned out that made him salivate for the time when he could pop those buttons open and turn Bilbo into a well ravished wreck.

He smiled the whole way down to the house's main level just thinking about later that night.

They'd barely left the stairs on their way out when Bilbo's phone went off, a startled look crossing his face before Bilbo yanked his cell out of his pocket and actually screamed into the phone. "WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN, YOU BLOODY BASTARD?! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED I'VE BEEN ABOUT YOU?!"

Not waiting for a response Bilbo continued to ream out the person on the other end thoroughly enough that Thorin found himself in a complete role reversal, needing to cover their son's ears so that Frodo didn't hear the foul language being used by his other parent.

Eventually Bilbo did allow the other speaker the chance to say something, and from the one side of the conversation Thorin could hear he gathered that Bilbo's friend Beorn had finally called back, having broken his last phone and gone hiking in Scotland in a spur of the moment type trip he'd forgotten to tell Bilbo about.

Bilbo was not pleased or pacified to say the least, and to be a complete arse about it now that he finally had Beorn on the line Bilbo refused to tell the other man what the emergency was other than to say that if he saw a pale man who looked like a cross between a goblin and an alien, Beorn was to assume the man might try and kill him. That Bilbo also added the fact that he and Frodo were currently staying with Thorin for the time being was something Thorin found interesting, particularly when he was pretty sure he caught a few swear words coming from the phone in response to that news.

After that a few more words were spoken on either end and then Bilbo was ending the call with a twitch under his eye that Thorin knew mean Bilbo was still angry but it was probably safe to remove his hands from Frodo's ears.

Looking up at his papa Frodo grinned and giggled at him. "He sounded like you when you dropped that big hammer on your foot."

Nodding in acknowledgement, he'd bribed Frodo very well that day not to tell Bilbo the new words he'd learned , Thorin would have ruffled the boy's hair if Bilbo hadn't styled it, contenting himself with a fist bump before smirking over at Bilbo. "Normally swearing like that's my forte, not yours."

"As long as we've known each other, of course I've picked up a thing or two from you besides that-." Just catching himself before he mentioned something Thorin did with his tongue while they were shagging that drove him absolutely mad, Bilbo cleared his throat and then informed Frodo that Uncle Teddy Bear would be coming to see them tomorrow.

"Yay!"

While their son did a little happy dance over that Thorin leaned in to ask just what Bilbo had been about to say about other skills he'd learned from him. Judging from the man's reaction, Thorin had a pretty good idea what the nature of the talent was, he just wanted a little specificity to use against Bilbo later.

"Never you mind."

"Oh but I do."

"You two are being funny."

Looking down at Frodo, who was not at all used to them being all couple-y, much less around him, Thorin and Bilbo weren't sure how to respond to that, especially since they both were cynically thinking that it was only a matter of time before they went back to their usual, slightly strained ceasefire and nothing more.

"Adults are funny sometimes." Bilbo told him finally, before holding out his hand. "Now we've got a restaurant to get to, don't we?"

Not nearly as thrilled at the idea of going out as he was that his parents were smiling at each other a lot more now that they were living with Papa, Frodo smiled back anyway since he knew how happy his daddy was to be going to the fancy restaurant. He didn't really like fancy places himself, the food always looked weird and there was never enough of it, but it made his daddy happy and that was what mattered.

Plus he was going to ask his papa if soon they could go to McDonalds as a reward for saying they should take daddy out to dinner once daddy wasn't around to hear them. Papa liked McDonalds too.

)

An observant man, not to mention one that knew his ex and their son well, Bilbo was well aware of the fact that both would much rather be eating a pizza or take out at home than dressed up in a fancy restaurant eating even fancier food. The fact that Rivendell was a vegetarian restaurant was also a strike against it, at least in Thorin's books, but there were plenty of dishes out there where you would never know you weren't eating meat unless told so, not that Thorin believed that either. Thorin was basically a carnivore at heart, who only ate green things because he was aware of their necessity in order to continue living. It had amused him when they were dating, Bilbo thought to himself as he perused the menu, he'd always gotten a thrill out of finding new ways to make Thorin eat healthier without the idiot knowing.

Glancing over at his son, who was playing with his silverware, Bilbo was glad that Frodo wasn't resistant to trying new foods or vegetables in general. Getting boys their son's age to go to fancy dinners was hard enough without the tantrums that could come when said boy found out there were no bangers and mash on the menu.

"Just order me something you think I'll eat." Setting his menu down and as far away from him as possible, Thorin had no intention of picking it up again. If he had to read one more flowery line about things being infused or bathed in something he was going to lose what little appetite he had.

Not really surprised Bilbo just nodded in agreement before asking Frodo if the boy knew what he wanted to eat.

"I'll have what Papa's having."

Lips twitching Bilbo smiled dryly as he thanked them both for putting up with his taste in restaurants. He knew what a trial it was for them.

Looking up from his silverware, which had neat designs on them, Frodo gave his daddy a reassuring smile. "It's okay, Daddy. It's cause we love you."

Forcing himself not to look in Thorin's direction, Lord only knew what expression the man was making at the moment, Bilbo thanked Frodo the sentiment before turning his full attention to finding the perfect dish for his boys, since they were humoring him so kindly.

"The fact that you read and understand pretentious crap helps too." Thorin drawled out, smirking at him when Bilbo glanced up to meet his gaze with a scowl. "That menu could have half as many pages if they weren't so determined to confuse the poor bast-person having to read it."

"If I let you pick where we're having for lunch tomorrow will you stop abusing the menus?"

"Possibly."

"Possibly?"

"I don't like to make promises I can't keep." Thorin pointed out. "And there's still dessert after this to get through."

"You love dessert."

"Normally, yes. But this is Rivendell."

Rolling his eyes Bilbo briefly looked heavenward as he asked the powers that be what on earth he was supposed to do with this man.

"I'll think about that and get back to you before the night's over."

Cheeks coloring up a little in reaction to the look Thorin was giving him, oh but he knew that look very, very well, Bilbo had no doubt as to the nature of the things Thorin was going to suggest he did to him later. Thank heavens Frodo was with them but was too young to understand the fact that he was behaving better than his papa at the moment.

"Daddy?"

Happy for a distraction from his now very inappropriate thoughts Bilbo gave Frodo his full attention.

"Is Uncle Teddy Bear gonna stay with us at Papa's when he gets here?"

Jaw dropping a little Bilbo belatedly realized that Frodo had a very good point. In the past Beorn had always stayed with them when he was in the city, and was likely thinking this time would be no different since he'd refused to give the inconsiderate prat details about what was going on earlier out of pique. But there was no way on God's green earth that Beorn could stay at Thorin's, the two would try to kill each other. Possible succeed if he wasn't around to knock their heads together.

"No, Darling. He won't be staying with us. We'll have to figure something out depending on how long he intends to stay." Which could be for a very long time since there was no way in hell Beorn would ever trust Thorin to keep him and Frodo safe. Oh but the shite was really going to hit the fan tomorrow, Bilbo silently bemoaned. In so many ways.

Just the thought of what was to come nearly killed his appetite.

But he was both a Baggins and a Took, which meant it took a great deal more than the thought of the two arses beating each other to a pulp to completely kill his appetite, especially when the appetizers he'd ordered arrived.

"Let's eat then."

Faced with food Frodo and Thorin agreed to that even though they left the weirdest looking stuff for Bilbo, not that he minded that in the least.

)

The next day saw Thorin watching the clock as intently as a cat watched a mouse hole, mentally counting down until his son's 'Uncle Teddy Bear' was due to arrive. Or when Bilbo said he'd be arriving, Thorin not exactly trusting the other man's word since it was obvious Bilbo was dreading introducing him to his friend. But he'd informed security that he was to be alerted when this Beorn fellow arrived or Bilbo tried to leave, so overall Thorin was confident that the two wouldn't be able to meet without him knowing about it.

And if he'd left Bilbo in his bed an hour earlier than he needed to that morning so that he could use his at home gym, specifically his punching bag, well it was always wise to be prepared when meeting someone who apparently hated his guts.

Hearing the sound of raised voices outside his office, always a good sign, Thorin glanced away from his time watching to see his sister and nephews through the glass. Given that Fili was sporting a black eye and Kili was looking a little bruised and battered as well, Thorin had a pretty good idea why the boys weren't in school even before his sister wrenched open his office door and all but pushed her offspring into the room while ordering then to explain to their uncle how they'd come to be suspended from school yet again.

Giving silent thanks that Frodo was so much easier to handle than the boy's cousins Thorin sighed and got out of his chair, coming around his desk to get a good look at the two hooligans he called family.

Naturally the boys both had plenty of excuses for getting into the fight, though when he cut through all the bullshite they were shovelling it became pretty damn obvious that the fight had originally started because some arses at their school had been giving them grief about their height. A fight he knew well, being a Durin. The men in their family tended to be on the short side, he himself was actually abnormally tall for a Durin even though that only put him at average height in the grand scheme of things. And while he'd learned to accept the fact that he'd never be as tall as he would have liked the two boys in front of him weren't there yet. Not nearly there yet.

Thankfully he didn't have to lecture them again about that point since his sister might have brought Fili and Kili to him under the guise of getting him to give them a talking to, but Dis had never learned how to keep her mouth shut. Particularly, Thorin thought with hidden amusement, when it came to lecturing the boys and so as per usual he gave up on talking after the first couple minutes of her interrupting and simply settled for giving the two scowling looks while Dis did all the actual work.

Not that it would do the two much good, they had a Durin's thick skull on top of the lack of height, but trying to tell Dis that, again, would just put him in hot water too.

As it was he got a death glare from her when he dared to head over to pick up his phone when it went off.

"It could be important." And as it turned out it was, Dwalin on the other end, letting him know that Bilbo's friend had arrived and was currently stepping into the elevator as they spoke. That Dwalin wanted to know if he was sure the man was on their side intrigued Thorin enough to ask why he would ask in such a wary tone of voice.

"Because if I'm any judge, and I am, he's not a man you want to be on the bad side of."

"I'll keep that in mind." Leaving out the fact that he was already on the man's bad side according to Bilbo and Strider, Thorin thanked Dwalin for the call and then hung up, announcing to his family that they'd have to continue the argument when they saw each other tomorrow. There was someone he needed to meet concerning the situation with Bilbo. He'd show them out since he was going in that direction anyway.

Dis wasn't thrilled that her boys were getting a stay of execution so to speak, but she couldn't argue that her nephew and Bilbo's safety wasn't more important that Kili and Fili getting lectured, especially since neither her nor Thorin's words ever got through really well.

For their part Fili and Kili were curious to meet their honorary uncle's friend, particularly when they heard who it was. They'd never met Frodo's Uncle Teddy Bear before, but their cousin had told them enough that both teenagers were sure that the first meeting between the man and their uncle would be interesting.

And right the two were for once, the four of them arriving on the scene just in time to see Bilbo literally lifted off his feet to be hugged and then kissed briefly on the mouth by a mountain of a man who had all four Durins tipping back their heads to get the full impact of 'Uncle Teddy Bear'.

Beorn Carrock was indeed a bear of a man, towering over everyone in his vicinity and with a hard muscled body that suggested he worked it hard and knew how to use it. The well worn clothing he wore hid the exact extent of the man's musculature, but not the fact that his neck was completely tattooed and his ears featuring stretchers and a couple of earrings on the upper shell of said ears. There were studs highlighting the man's eyebrows as well, the man's dark hair and beard closely trimmed to further frame a face that was arrestingly handsome despite all the adornments.

"Check out the tats." Kili breathed out in admiration.

"He picked Bilbo up like he was nothing." Fili added, terribly impressed by that.

Dis made a purely feminine sound of appreciation, while Thorin decided that he wasn't going to like the man currently glaring over at him any more than Carrock apparently liked him.

In fact, he had a feeling they were going to hate each other quite a bit. Especially if the bastard didn't turn Bilbo loose right that second.


	11. Friends And Foes

Happy Halloween, Everyone!

Friends And Foes

Able to feel Thorin's death glare through his back, and well aware that Beorn was the sort of jerk who would deliberately use him to fan the flames of hatred that were already an inferno in Beorn's case and getting bigger by the millisecond in Thorin's, Bilbo looked his college boyfriend dead in the eye as he informed him that he was to put him down right this instant, or he was going to start twisting piercings. And he knew very well where every last one of them was.

"Fighting dirty. Good man." Pleased, Beorn set Bilbo back down on his feet as ordered, motioning towards Thorin with a jerk of his chin. "He's shorter than I figured."

"If you say that to him I'm starting with the piercing below the belt."

Beorn's amusement at that threat was written all over his face, obviously not worried in the least that Bilbo would actually follow through in his threats. But his voice said he was willing to humor him a little. "Then I guess I should consider myself lucky I got rid of the piercing you dumped me over. Nice beard burns on your neck by the way."

"Don't go there." Knowing he needed to control this first meeting if both his exes were to leave the building alive, Bilbo put his hands on his hips and gave Beorn his most quelling of looks. "Now be nice, the reason I called you here and the reason Frodo and I are living with Thorin at the moment is serious."

"I figured something was up when you yelled at me that way. So what, the rich bastard's putting the moves on you again and you need me to talk some sense into you?"

"That might be necessary, down the road. Right now you're here because- Beorn, this is Thorin Durin, his sister Dis, and her two boys Fili and Kili." And knowing both his exes well Bilbo sighed and added on a warning that really shouldn't be necessary given their ages. "And when you two shake hands play nice or you're both in trouble."

While his nephews snickered over that until their mother whacked them both upside the head, Thorin stepped forward and offered his hand, the handshake between him and Beorn looking somewhat civilized to the eyes glued to them. Or at least their knuckles weren't going white which was somewhat reassuring.

Then they were letting go and Beorn politely greeted Dis and the boys, the Durins being coolly polite in return since naturally they were automatically on Thorin's side.

Pleasantries now completed so to speak, Beorn immediately turned his attention back to Bilbo, asking him to finish where he'd left off. What the hell was going on?

"It's better that we discuss it in Thorin's office. That way when the yelling starts we'll have some privacy." And there was bound to be yelling, or at the very least the kind of bad language that shouldn't be spoken in mixed company.

Shrugging his acceptance of that Beorn motioned for them to lead the way, Dis physically grabbing each of her protesting sons by their arm to drag them off, reminding Thorin and Bilbo that she'd see them for the family cookout they had planned for the weekend.

That she also wanted to stick around to see the fireworks was obvious when she glanced back in their direction a couple of times before the three of them got into the lift, the doors quickly closing behind them, but thankfully her good manners and need to parent won over Dis's curiosity.

Glad the three weren't sticking around, they'd join Thorin in ganging up on Beorn which would require him to back his friend up just to be fair which would piss Thorin off, Bilbo asked his current lover to lead the way to his office, grateful when Thorin simply nodded and did precisely that.

Once they were in the office Bilbo told Beorn to take a seat and then, once they door was closed, Bilbo told the other man what had happened, starting with the blind date from hell up until the break in at the house and what they'd learned about his would be killer thus far.

Unlike Thorin Beorn didn't freak out or start ranting or raving, he stayed in his seat, his eyes getting colder and colder though he didn't say anything, remaining silent until Bilbo was done with his explanation and silence reigned in the room as he was given time to digest. And he did, the quiet dragging on for a couple minutes before Beorn asked for confirmation again that Frodo was fine.

"He's okay, promise."

Nodding his acceptance of that Beorn took a deep breath and then let it out slowly before looking over in Bilbo's direction. "So I'm guessing, since you didn't come to me, that you're determined to stay here in the city with Durin. He could have you out of the country no problem and hell, Gandalf's probably chomping at the bit to get you to safety too. That you're still around says to me that you must have some sort of plan, so what is it?"

"If I leave he'll just move on to someone else, kill other people. I can't have that on my conscience. If he makes another move against Frodo or I we'll take Frodo out of the equation. Charles and Gandalf will take him away from here until it's safe to bring him back. Frodo isn't the one he wants." Bilbo stressed, knowing that his son was all their biggest concern here.

Beorn's eyes slid over to meet Thorin's. "You willing to bet Frodo's life that you can keep him safe, Durin?"

"I'll eviscerate anyone who tries to harm a hair on his head."

"Thorin."

Both men ignoring Bilbo and the amount of censor he'd put into Thorin's name, Beorn and Thorin nodded at each other in complete understanding. They would both die to protect Bilbo and Frodo, and if something happened to either one of them because of something one of the men did, the other would see to it that he regretted it for the rest of his very miserable life.

)

As Bilbo had previously stated, there was no way Beorn and Thorin could really coexist peacefully in one space even if they wanted to, so in the end they went with the plan Bilbo had come up with the previous night and had run by Charles and Gandalf. It stood to reason, after all, that if Stoor was really as clever as they thought he was he would be looking into Bilbo's past to try and figure out where he might go to hide from him. And while it had to be pretty obvious he'd go to Thorin, the protection he could offer superior to everyone of Bilbo's acquaintance, it was also just as likely that the bond between his family and Gandalf's would come up and the two older gentlemen seen as possible bait or a way of extracting information about how to get to Bilbo. The two were also gamers, though quite a bit older than Stoor's usual targets, but since Beorn needed a place to stay and the two men had that to offer it would be a fair trade of services so to speak. Plus Beorn and Gandalf were good friends on top of that, which made it that much easier for all involved. Beorn would also be in charge of helping them look after Frodo if need be, being more physically capable than the two much older gentlemen.

Thorin, Bilbo and Beorn had hashed out the bare bones of their plans by lunch time, the three of them heading downstairs then to pick up Frodo so that they could all go out to lunch together. Beorn needed to see for himself that Frodo was okay, and the boy had been wired all morning at the thought of seeing his Uncle Teddy Bear too.

Waiting outside the daycare while one of the workers left to retrieve Frodo, it wasn't long before the boy came running through the door, arrowing directly for Beorn who scooped him up, threw him in the air, and then on the way down flipped the little boy around so that he was dangling upside down.

"Hey, Fro, what-da-ya know?"

Giggling in delight Frodo informed him that he knew how to spell 'difficulty'.

"Yeah? Well let's hear it."

"Mrs. D, Mrs. I, Mrs. F F I. Mrs. C, Mrs. U, Mrs. LTY."

Laughing, Beorn shook his head. "I see someone's been watching 'Matilda'."

Bilbo's lips curved in a small smile. "Someone should do a survey about how many people out there learned to spell that word from that story."

Agreeing with that Beorn flipped Frodo back around and set the boy back on his feet. "All right, Fro, you ready to head on out and get us some food?"

"Ya!"

Since Frodo's hand was already slipping into Beorn's Bilbo made the executive decision to do something he would have normally hesitated to do, especially now that he was becoming a lot more aware of the fact that Frodo was picking up on the change in his parents' relationship. But he knew that one of Thorin's deepest wounds was the fact that the man felt he wasn't as close to Frodo as he should be, and seeing how easy Beorn was with the boy and vice versa…Bilbo slid his own hand into Thorin's, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

The gesture had Thorin giving him a surprised, sidelong look, but he didn't wiggle his fingers from Bilbo's grasp either. In fact the hand holding continued until they were a block and a half away from the pub they were going to eat at, Bilbo needing his hand then to retrieve the phone since it was Gandalf's ringtone and might be important.

"Hello?"

"And how did Thorin's first meeting with Beorn go? You'll note that as requested I didn't 'accidentally' show up to watch the fireworks. Asking Charles to keep an eye on me to make sure I stayed home was unnecessary, by the way."

"If it hadn't been necessary you would have never known I asked him for help." Bilbo pointed out with a small smirk on his face. "And they're fine. We're on the way to get some lunch now. Is that the only reason you're calling?"

"As a matter of fact, it isn't. Charles and I discovered something this morning involving your case, which we passed on to Strider right away, and I will now relate to you. I thought to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak."

Shaking his head over the typical Gandalf behaviour, the man was never going to grow up, Bilbo asked his friend what he'd learned as he let Thorin take his arm and guide him off to the side so that they weren't holding up the foot traffic, which was considerable given the time of day. Letting Thorin use his own body to shield him from the numerous people who were too busy talking on cellphones or in a hurry to watch where they were going, Bilbo focused completely on what Gandalf had to tell him since it might be terribly important later.

"Well as you know the one link between everyone targeted by Stoor was that they were gamers, usually on multiple sites, and that he had his techs look into it, trying to track down the other players they had contact with to find how Stoor met them. They had some luck with some of the gamers, but they haven't been able to trace him that way and Charles hasn't had much luck there either, but he's going to keep trying." The man's husband was very good when it came to collecting data. "Anyway, we decided to thoroughly look over the online profiles of the gamers killed, what sort of characters they preferred, what they collected, what their gaming strengths and weakness were…you get the picture. In short we collected a lot of useless data, but we think we've discovered the variable that attracts him to certain gamers."

Eyes widening Bilbo took a moment to tell Thorin and Beorn the news before asking Gandalf what they'd found.

"Well it was the fuss you made about the ring he was wearing that helped us see it, the fact that in every case the doomed gamer had a powerful ring in their possession prior to their deaths from an online game…and that ring was removed and 'gifted' to another player at the time of their death. Stoor must be after the Ring of Power."

"He…he wants to kill me over a ring that doesn't even exist?!"

"Wow, Daddy's yelling really loud." Then in a smaller voice Frodo asked if someone wanted to hurt his Daddy.

"No, you know your papa and I would never let anyone hurt your daddy."

Reassured by that, his Uncle Teddy Bear and Papa were really strong and tough, Frodo wrapped his arms around his uncle's leg and leaned his head against the man's side for some comfort as he watched his parents with wide eyes.

Trusting the man to take care of their boy for the moment Thorin turned his attention to Bilbo, asking him for an explanation.

Telling Gandalf he'd be back in a minute Bilbo leaned in close to Thorin so that they could whisper to each other, explaining what Gandalf had just said about thinking that he was targeted because the character he RPG'd as on 'Middle Earth' was in possession of a special item that Stoor might want to collect given his obsession with rings.

"And what I don't get is why, if he wants them that friggin bad, he bloody well doesn't just hire someone with extreme hacking skills to hack into my account and take it. I mean why face the murder rap that comes from killing us off and making us give them to him?"

Reaching out Thorin stroked his fingers once through Bilbo's curls. "Because he wants to win it from you, not take it. By defeating you he can tell himself he earned it, fought you for it as opposed to just stealing it. And because he developed a taste for killing. You don't do what he's done otherwise."

Staring into each other's eyes they were interrupted by hard yanks on their trousers, both looking down to see Frodo giving them a pouty look that said he knew he was being left out of something and didn't like it one little bit.

"Sorry, Darling." Picking his baby up Bilbo settled his son on his hip, rubbing his cheek against Frodo's curls. "Let's get you some food, hmm?"

"Yeah. Can I talk to him too?" Frodo motioned to the phone Bilbo still held.

"Sure." Bringing the phone to his ear Bilbo told Gandalf that he was grateful for the information and that they'd talk about it more later. And that Frodo wanted to talk to him, Gandalf naturally being delighted to hear that. Working up a smile Bilbo said his goodbyes and then handed the phone over, Frodo happy to chatter away while Bilbo carried him down the street with Thorin and Beorn lagging just a little behind, Thorin relaying what they'd learned in a low voice so that Beorn knew what was going on.

)

Partway through their lunch Frodo, who was currently sporting a milk moustache, stuck his fork in his shepherd's pie and announced that he had to go to the loo, pushing back his chair to get out. Immediately Thorin stated that he needed to go too, using his napkin to clean off the boy's face first before heading off with Frodo, the two hand in hand as they discussed what they were going to get for dessert and whether or not Frodo was up to eating a whole piece of pie with vanilla ice cream all by himself.

Shaking his head over the fact that he was so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't even noticed the milk moustache, Bilbo sighed over the way his life had gone to hell in a handbasket recently before looking over at Beorn, who was currently staring at him. "What?"

"He's not what I expected."

Bilbo had to laugh at that, stating that Thorin excelled at defying description so really, that was no surprise.

"Yeah, and you don't see him clearly either, Goldilocks."

Glaring at Beorn for using that infernal family nickname, his hair having been a lot blonder when he was Frodo's age, Bilbo pointed his knife in his friend's direction. "If you dare call me that while Thorin is in hearing range I'll make you very sorry you were ever born."

"My apologies, Mr. Baggins."

Rolling his eyes Bilbo gave Beorn a look that made it clear how little stock he put in the genuineness of the man's apology, especially when the arse was smiling at him like the bleeding Cheshire cat. And what was even more annoying was the implication that the prat thought he knew more about Thorin than he did, despite the fact that Beorn had just met Thorin and the two had talked of nothing but the mess he was currently in thus far.

Really, he had the worst bloody taste in men EVER.

"If it makes you feel any better, I don't intend to stick my nose in about you shagging him."

"Small favors." Was his sarcastic reply, though Bilbo narrowed his eyes almost immediately as he asked why Beorn intended to stay out of it, since that was a very un-Beorn thing to do. Just what was he up to?

"Let's just say that I'll stay mum on the topic for now, at least until after this whole mess you're in is settled. If things between you and Thorin aren't all sorted out by then I'll have a talk with the both of you. For Fro's sake."

"What do you mean, all sorted out?" He did not like the sound of that.

"It means you both have your heads up your arses, and I've got no problem pulling them out later if need be."

"Why are we friends again?"

"Because we figured out that we're better that than lovers."

Looking up towards the heavens in a silent question of just why he'd been saddled with such assehole exes, Bilbo determinedly turned his attention back to his fish and chips, grateful when Beorn turned his attention back to his own meal with single-minded focus.

It was going to be a long day, he just knew it.


	12. In The Past

In The Past

After lunch Beorn headed out, intending to go drop his overnight bag at Gandalf's and get settled in there. He'd been working nonstop recently, and he hated traveling, so a nap had been in order, especially if he was going to be on guard duty. Not that Gandalf and Charles didn't have amazing security, they did, but Beorn was quick to point out that Bilbo's had been nothing to sneeze at either and Stoor had still gotten in. So off he went after they'd returned Frodo to daycare and Bilbo and Thorin headed back up to the top floor to work.

It was a little after three when Bilbo got a phone call from Strider, the inspector informing him that he had news for him regarding the case. And knowing what Thorin would say if he were left in the dark Bilbo asked him to hold for a minute while he went to Thorin's office so that they could both hear what he had to say together.

Thankfully Thorin wasn't busy when he arrived, not that Thorin didn't jump at any excuse to avoid paperwork, and so Bilbo quickly explained who was on the phone and then put it on speakerphone so that they could both hear what the man had to say.

Once they'd established that they already knew about what Gandalf had found out about the other gamers' rings Strider skipped over that to what they'd just recently learned. Namely the fact that while the majority of Stoor's online aliases had led them nowhere they had found one with a little bit of traction behind it so to speak, though that was through sheer dumb luck. Apparently one of the tech's Strider had put on the bastard's trailer recognized the user name as being one used by a hacker he'd help identify several years back. The man they'd known as Stoor hadn't been as skilled back in the day.

"Oh thank the Lord. Do you have his real name?"

"We have his real name." Strider's grin could be heard through the phone. "And with that info we're going to hunt him down like ravenous wolves. Sméagol Gollum is going to wish he was never born when I get ahold of him."

Unless he got him first was Thorin's opinion on the matter.

Shaking his head Bilbo didn't argue with that statement, he'd given up there. Instead he asked if Strider had learned anything about the killer's past that would explain why he was doing these horrible things.

"No, he had a total normal childhood and life according to the constable I reached out to. He wasn't a blip on anyone's radar until his cousin's murder."

"He killed his own cousin?" Bilbo was horrified. "The one whose ring he wears?"

"Possibly. Gollum was never charged with the murder because by the time the body was retrieved from the river the remains were too compromised to give them much to go on. He was the last person seen with the victim though, and according to the man's family after his cousin went missing Gollum slowly went off the deep end and only seemed to care about his computers and a ring that he never took off and called 'His Precious' which meshes with your previous statement. His family hasn't had contact with him in close to ten years, and he dropped off the map so to speak about the same time. We're working to figure out what name he's living under now and where he might be hiding. Now that we know where he started we can use that to lead us to him."

"If there's any way I or my people can help, you have only to ask."

"We're aware of that Mr. Durin, believe me. The fact that you're now involved peripherally has opened a number of doors and resources to me. My superiors don't want someone of your power and influence coming down on them."

"Good."

Having conveyed the main reason for the phone call the rest of their discussion was just a reiteration of what Bilbo and Thorin needed to do and be aware of to make sure that nothing happened to either of them. It was only a matter of time before they caught this guy, and damn if they'd lose someone else to this bastard before that happened.

Both promising to be on their guard at all times, Thorin adding a few creative mutters about what he wanted to do with the bastard if he did try something, the conversation ended with Strider reminding Thorin yet again that it wasn't a good idea to talk like that in the hearing range of a law enforcer.

"He has a good point." Bilbo pointed out after they'd said their goodbyes and he'd turned off his cellphone. "I don't want you going to jail for this. All your money will only protect you so much, you know."

"If Stoor-Gollum can get away with murder I sure as hell can. Especially since I have the training for it." Thorin's eyes were cool as they latched onto Bilbo's. "Does that scare you?"

"No." Wrapping his arms around Thorin's waist Bilbo leaned against the man's solid form, smiling when Thorin's arms came up to hold him back. And wanting Thorin to smile too Bilbo added that he was just glad that Thorin was on his side.

"Always."

)

Though originally it had been a great source of terror for him, I mean who wouldn't be scared shiteless at the idea of giving a baby a bath, Thorin could now say that supervising his son's bath time was one of his favorite things to do. Frodo loved the water, and the fact that Thorin's tub was admittedly huge delighted the boy who saw it as a small pool for him to swim around in. Add in the bubbles and bath toys for him to play with, and Frodo was the happiest preschooler in the world at bath time. And so long as Frodo was happy all was right with Thorin's world.

"Papa, look at my hair!"

Glancing up from the magazine article about his company he was reading Thorin smirked at the sight of his son's interesting hairdo. Ordinarily Frodo's curls were too stubborn to be remotely styled, but with the shampoo it was currently sticking out in all directions like he was a very asymmetrical hedgehog.

"Well don't you look quite handsome. You ready to rinse that out yet?"

Frodo paused to consider, the boy studying his fingers for a moment before declaring that he wasn't pruney enough yet.

Laughing in acknowledgement Thorin inclined his head. "Five more minutes then. It's going to be past your bedtime soon. You don't want Daddy mad at me, do you?"

"No." Frodo shook his head solemnly. "Papa?"

"Yes?"

"Can Papa and I stay here with you forever? Like a real family? Please."

Heart breaking, as it always did when Frodo asked him for something he couldn't give, Thorin had to swallow hard as he reached over to smooth back Frodo's soapy hair. "I wish that that were possible, Frodo, I really do. But unfortunately life doesn't often, doesn't usually go the way we expect it to. And your Daddy and I…"

"Maybe if you gave him a ring, you gots lots of rings."

Grimacing a little, rings were not his favorite subject at the moment, Thorin shook his head. "Your Daddy doesn't want a ring from me." He was pretty sure Bilbo was as anti ring at the moment as he was.

"But…" Frodo's brows scrunched together to try and find the words. "I love you and Daddy, and you love Daddy and me, and Daddy loves you and me…so why can't we be a family together?"

"Your Daddy doesn't-" No, he couldn't put it all on Bilbo's shoulders, that was not only unfair but would come back to bite him in the arse in ways he couldn't begin to imagine. "We are a family, Frodo. You make your Daddy and I family. You know that your Daddy and I love you more than anything, right?"

"Of course."

Able to smile a little now, Thorin quickly grinned full out at the pompousness of that statement. Yeah, his son knew how important he was to them. And really, he should have seen Frodo's question coming. Frodo had never before spent so much time in their joint company, they tended to never spend more than a few hours together and that was pretty much always with people around to act as buffers. Just the three of them living here together, what child wouldn't get confused.

"Don't be sad, Papa."

"I'm not sad. How could I be when I've got you? Now let's get that shampoo out of your hair before it gets into your eyes, okay?"

Nodding, Frodo let Thorin wash his hair for him and then held out his arms to let his papa lift him out of the tub since it was too deep for him to climb out on his own. Taking the towel his papa gave him Frodo dried off his body while his papa dealt with drying his hair since he never did that good enough and he didn't like hair dryers unless he was playing with it.

When Frodo was dry enough Thorin retrieved the boy's pyjamas and handed them over, smiling over the glow in the dark stars all over the pyjamas which had been their major selling point in Frodo's eyes.

Picking Frodo up when the boy was dressed Thorin cuddled his son against his chest, needing the contact as he breathed in the various scents that he associated with his son. Comforted by them Thorin left the mess in the bathroom to clean up later and carried Frodo out of the room to his son's bedroom, the covers already turned down by Bilbo and ready for Frodo to get settled in.

"Story?"

"Of course." While Frodo got settled under his bedding Thorin went over to the shelf that held his son's books, retrieving the one Frodo requested before heading back to take a seat on the side of the bed. Then it was story time, distracting them both with Frodo thankfully unconscious by the time Thorin was three fourths through.

Once he was sure that Frodo was out for the count Thorin got up, put the book aside, and then placing a kiss on his son's forehead headed out, leaving the bedroom door slightly ajar in case Frodo needed them in the night.

Heading back to the bathroom Thorin started cleaning up the mess Frodo had made, his thoughts going back to the earlier conversation and the look in his son's eyes when Frodo had asked him if they couldn't be a real family. Talk about excruciating. And what was even worse was the fact that as much as his son wanted them to be a real family…he wanted it just as badly. There were very few things in the world he wanted more. And he was not a man who could admit defeat ever, much less easily which he had to accept when it came to-

"Do you need some help?"

Shifting out of his crouched position Thorin shook his head, eyes taking in the fact that while Bilbo was wearing his own pyjama bottoms, but the too big shirt was his. It was another reminder of before, because back in the day Bilbo had constantly stolen his shirts to wear to bed until he removed them to get the man naked.

Moving in closer Bilbo's eyes were inquiring, the hand he set on Thorin's shoulder careful. "Are you alright?"

"Just a lot on my mind."

Nodding in understanding Bilbo gave Thorin's arm a squeeze before letting go. "Well if you don't want help I'm going to head to bed."

Before he could stop himself Thorin reached out and stroked a hand over Bilbo's curls as he stated that he'd join him shortly, making it clear that he wanted Bilbo in his bed even if it was just to sleep together. And he could see that realization and knowledge come into Bilbo's eyes, Thorin watching as they widened slightly while focusing on him, trying to figure him out. What he was showing on his face, Thorin had no idea. All he knew was that he'd just pushed for something more than just the benefits of really good sex and the ball was now in Bilbo's court.

The wait seemed endless to Thorin, but then Bilbo was nodding his head and saying that he'd be waiting.

Stunned Thorin could only stand there as he watched Bilbo's lips curve into a hesitant smile and then he was turning around and heading back out, Thorin remaining silent as his own lips curved into a wide smile of his own.

Actually…to hell with cleaning up and sleeping. This called for some celebrating.

)

Sprawled out and working hard to try and get some control over his breathing, which was rather beyond him at the moment given the workout his body had just been given, Bilbo had to smile regardless of the state he was in. If he were being egotistical he'd let himself think that Thorin had been so insistent about them sleeping together because having Beorn around had made him overly possessive and jealous, but even though that was probably pure rubbish Bilbo was just pleased he'd been plundered like sex was about to be outlawed in England . Aka he was quite happy to be in Thorin's bed to say the least.

Amusing himself by imagining what his countrymen' reactions would be if some idiot prime minister tried to outlaw shagging, Bilbo chuckled and then turned his head to grin at Thorin when the other man asked him what was so funny.

"Just silly thoughts."

"Obviously." Thorin's tone was indulgent, the way his eyes glided over Bilbo's naked flesh making it abundantly clear that he was hoping for another go before they turned in for the night.

Liking that idea quite a bit Bilbo deliberately stretched a little under Thorin's gaze, though it was only halfhearted since he still hadn't recovered yet from the first tumbling. But if Thorin wanted to do all the work then who was he to argue?

"You and Beorn still seem pretty close. Why did you break up in the first place?"

Surprised at the question, one didn't normally talk about ex boyfriends in a positive light right after shagging with someone else, or at least not if they had any plans to continue shagging said person which he did. That being the case Bilbo made the logical leap and figured that Thorin had been wanting to ask for a while but hadn't wanted to come off as jealous or possessive when they weren't even technically in a relationship at the moment. And since Thorin was not a patient man by any stretch of the word Bilbo supposed he shouldn't be surprised that the idiot had just blurted it out now, unable to wait any longer.

"We were friends before we were lovers, and in the end we figured out that we were better friends. He is a lovely bloke, but not my type, romantically, in the long run."

"Makes sense. He didn't strike me as your type."

"Thorin…to my knowledge he's the only boyfriend of mine you've ever met. And given that you're both sexy, well built, intelligent men with dark hair and strong personalities…of course you and I didn't make it either…"

Choosing to focus on the first part rather than the last part, especially since it obviously made Bilbo just as unhappy to think about, Thorin stroked a hand up and then down Bilbo's sweaty side. "Sexy, hmm?"

"Very sexy." Agreeing with that one hundred percent Bilbo moved in close for a slow, drawn out kiss that turned into several minutes of simple snogging, both enjoying the familiarity and pleasure of each other's warmth and touch before Bilbo broke off the kissing to snuggle up against Thorin's chest, listening to the other man's heart beat as Thorin's fingers played with his curls.

Thinking that that might not have been the only question Thorin was holding in Bilbo asked if he wanted to know anything else, genuinely curious, as always, as to what went on in the other man's head.

Silence, and then…

"Why did you take that disc from your bedroom? I saw you pick it up and put it in your jacket before, when the police let you into the room." Feeling Bilbo tense up against him, Thorin mentally cursed his delivery. He hadn't meant to blurt it out like that, dammit. "You don't have to say if you don't want to. I was just curious as to why it was so special."

Slowly Bilbo relaxed a little, though the hint of worry in his voice as he asked if Thorin had gotten ahold of it and listened to it made his trepidation clear.

"Not without your permission, no."

"Thank you. And it's nothing important, really. Just a recording of something…personal."

It was the way Bilbo said the last word that had the light going on in Thorin's head. Because he remembered, very well now, that on a couple of occasions Bilbo's habit of recording their joint brainstorming sessions had resulted in there being more than just business notes being recorded. In one case they'd been interrupted, the other time they'd remembered to turn the recorder off after they'd decided they were due for a break, but since they'd still been together according to the date on the disc….

"Bilbo…is that disc an audio recording of us shagging?"

A very long, very telling silence.

Chest shaking as he laughed in sexy delight, Thorin knew in his gut that he'd hit the nail on the head and was absolutely thrilled by that fact. And more, Thorin realized as delight faded into a glowing warmth in his chest, to know that even after all these years, after all they'd said and done to the other Bilbo had kept the recording, and on top of that the fact that even if they'd still been together it was a very un-Bilbo like thing to do…

It must matter to him a lot, for Bilbo to have kept it all this time.

"You'll have to let me listen sometime."

"Or just relive it." Bilbo pointed out, lightly pushing Thorin onto his back and then climbing on top of him with the blatant intention to distract him using sex.

Making a sound of agreement Thorin was still grinning as Bilbo leaned down to seal their lips together again, more than happy to use the knowledge he'd gain in their past together to give Bilbo pleasure here and now in their present.

And this present, Thorin thought with a well pleased groan, was one hell of a gift.


	13. Thinking of Him

Thinking Of Him

Bilbo could see that Thorin's mind was occupied by something all morning the next day, but he didn't comment knowing that odds were Thorin was just plotting new ways to cause Stoor –Gollum –bodily harm. That or something to do with business, which meant that unless Thorin asked, it would probably be better if he didn't try to offer any help. Already too much of their present interactions were like before, all the sex they were having and the way Thorin was being so protective and possessive towards him messing with his head something awful. Bilbo kept thinking and imagining that they were actually a family, that this was his and Frodo's home now and that they both belonged to Thorin and that this was always how it was going to be from now on. And that wasn't the case and it was putting cracks in his heart every time his mind forced him to acknowledge the fact that this was all just temporary. Dammit.

So yes, for the most part Bilbo opted to stay out of Thorin's way until he'd finished making the trifle and salad he'd promised to bring to Dis's for the planned picnic. Not that it was terribly cheery, picnic sort of weather outside, but it wasn't raining or terribly windy which was the main thing, Bilbo thought with a smirk as he went looking for Thorin and Frodo. That was England for you after all.

Finding them both in Frodo's room, a Lego city currently being built all over their son's floor, Bilbo smiled from the doorway as he watched them until Thorin looked up to meet his gaze questioningly.

"Okay, you two, time to get ready to go to Dis's. Frodo, put on a warmer jumper, all right? It's cool outside."

A moment of indecision, but trifle and his cousins was slightly better than Lego so Frodo got to his feet with a sigh. And after a brief discussion about the warmth of his current shirt Frodo gave in and retrieved a new jumper from his dresser, messing up his hair as he tugged the new one up and over his head.

Trusting that they could both find their way downstairs without him nagging them into it, he had the trifle as a bribe after all, Bilbo headed back down the stairs as his mind turned once again to the question of just what was up with Thorin. Because the more he thought about it the more certain he was that he was missing something, and he hated that feeling more than words could say. Especially since even if he straight out asked Thorin about it the man could lie to his face and odds were he wouldn't realize it because yeah, Thorin was just that good when it came to shutting people out when he wanted to.

It couldn't be Beorn, because his friend was spending the day hounding Strider and looking up mates of his who were into the gaming world too and might be willing to tell him things that they wouldn't tell a government official. A lot of gamers were paranoid, as well as antigovernment, so it was a good idea.

It could be the going to Dis's place, Thorin worried that their nephews had done or said something that would require him to try and fail to discipline the two little hellions, but no, Bilbo didn't think it was that either.

"What are you thinking so hard about?"

Looking over at Thorin Bilbo smiled ruefully, deciding to give honesty a try. "I was wondering what you've been thinking about all morning."

Thorin's face gave away nothing, the hand he brought up to ruffle Bilbo's curls only adding to his confusion.

"Not today. We'll talk about it tomorrow."

Tomorrow? What did they have to talk about? Was it something important? Had Thorin come up with some new plan to try and find Gollum? Or perhaps Thorin wanted to talk about 'them', though technically speaking they weren't a 'them' just because they were shagging again and really-

"Don't overthink it. We'll have plenty of time to discuss it later."

Not about to let this go, or wait until the next day, Bilbo opened his mouth and tried to pry more details out of the man, not getting anywhere before Frodo joined them in the front hallway, the boy literally jumping up and down with eagerness to get going.

So in the end Bilbo had to settle for giving Thorin looks the whole way to Dis's, ones that promised an untold level of nagging if he didn't spill his guts sooner as opposed to later.

)

Shortly after they'd finished eating, just in time as it was now starting to pour outside, Thorin allowed himself to be shanghaied by his sister into helping her do dishes while his nephews and son dragged Bilbo off to play Mario Kart Wii with them. The break from Bilbo's searching gaze was seriously welcome, especially since Thorin knew it was only a matter of time before the man pulled out the puppy dog eyes, which always got to him. That he knew his sister had every intention of doing some interrogating of her own as soon as she got him alone was somewhat ironic, but in this case less fraught with peril.

"So? Spill already."

After making her promise that she would say nothing to anyone, which she did, Thorin informed her that he was thinking about asking Bilbo to give him another chance.

"Well it's about bloody time. Of course you should." Dis rolled her eyes at him in true sisterly fashion. "I mean let's face it, Brother Dear, you aren't getting any younger and Bilbo IS the only man in existence who might be able to tolerate being stuck with you for fifty years or so."

"Does that mean you think he'd say yes?"

Opening and then closing her mouth just as quickly, the answer was written all over her face before Dis admitted that she honestly didn't know. "He's just as stubborn as you are, and he's a worrier. It wouldn't just be blowing up in your faces this time if things didn't work out, but Frodo's too. And things ended so badly before…Bilbo's not exactly what you'd call a risk taker."

Forcing his shoulders not to slump, Thorin nodded in agreement, her thoughts ones he'd been having all morning and afternoon already. Hell, he'd been using those arguments for years now, whenever he got the impulse to try and get closer to the man he was fairly sure was the love of his life, God help him.

"Oh man up, Thorin." Punctuating the statement with a hard punch to her brother's arm, Dis gave Thorin a disgusted look. "Are you seriously just going to give up like that? What the bloody hell? You fought for Erebor until it damn near killed you, costing you just about everything, but you aren't willing to do the same for Bilbo? I mean really! You've basically said that you'd die for the man, and he sure as hell will make you happier than the company that's slowly putting you in an early grave, because it can't make you happy…. What the hell is wrong with your head? All men heads really." Making a sound of exasperation Dis hit him again just because. "If you love him nearly as much as I think you do, than what the hell are you doing asking me for advice? Since when does Thorin Durin need to be told what he should do?"

Stunned into silence, because she was absolutely right, Thorin was glad Dis opted to turn her attention back to the dishes they were supposed to be washing so that he could process the fact that he didn't have the sense God had given a goose when it came to his priorities. He had fought tooth and nail to keep Erebor, had been willing to go to any lengths to save the company because it was his family's legacy and hundreds of people depended on it for their livelihoods. He enjoyed his job, overall, but if asked to rate which gave him more happiness and pleasure Bilbo and Frodo would definitely eclipse Erebor by quite a lot.

And yet…and yet he'd never fought for Bilbo or his son the way he had Erebor. He'd accepted the rules Bilbo had put into place when it came to his interactions with both of them, and had never attempted to really talk with Bilbo about what had happened to end them so completely before. They'd talked a little, sure, but in the beginning they'd both been hurting and mostly they'd just yelled at each other and called each other names. And always they'd stopped said talks before they got too heated because of Frodo, which meant things didn't actually get resolved.

There was also the fact that, let's face it, he'd rather rip out his own fingernails than risk the sort of pain Bilbo had caused him when they'd broken up. That didn't help either.

But still, even when they'd dated had he ever gone to real effort to show Bilbo how much he mattered, how much he loved the man. Really, when looked at from that angle Thorin figured that he'd deserved to have his arse dumped. Not that Bilbo had been any better, the man had never told him that he loved him either, but Bilbo had shown him that cared which was more than he'd done, dammit.

"If I tried to be romantic I'd just fuck it up."

"Probably." Dis agreed with a smirk. "But you'd at least get some points for trying, which is more than you have now, isn't it?"

"But I should probably wait until after this whole mess with Gollum is over, shouldn't I? I mean isn't there a saying that relationships built on intense experiences never work?"

"That's from 'Speed', you prat. Yellow belly prat too, if you keep stalling and don't tell him now what you should have told him years ago. You always stall when it comes to him, thinking you have all the time in the world and then you didn't, did you? Are you willing to risk him not waiting once this whole mess is over?"

"Bollocks."

"Just tell him you love him, Thorin. That's more important than all the romantic gestures in the world. The rest can wait, but that can't. Not if you want to fix things." Dis rubbed a hand up and down the arm she'd punched repeatedly. "Even if he doesn't love you the same way, he should know how much he matters to you."

Throwing up his hands in exasperation Thorin demanded to know why this couldn't be easier.

"If it was easier it wouldn't be the real deal, Thorin."

And on that note Dis directed him to dry the dishes for her while he tried to figure out how to fix his abysmal love life.

Resorting that hers was just as bad, the two siblings washed dishes and argued good-naturedly, both desperately hoping that Thorin didn't fuck things up with Bilbo.

)

Later that Night

Leaving Bilbo in bed Thorin threw on some trousers and then headed to his personal office, switching on the lights since it was late and he was getting too old to work with just his desk lamp. And shaking his head over that sad truth Thorin walked across the room to his safe, putting in his code and providing the scans necessary to open it up so that he could get at the items inside. Everything business related was kept at Erebor or in lockboxes elsewhere; this safe was reserved for personal items, or occasionally something from work that he'd taken out for a day or two and wanted to keep safe.

The item he wanted wasn't work related though, and Thorin pushed aside everything in his way to reach the very back where he'd long ago tossed the small square he couldn't stand to see every time he opened the damn thing, but had never been able to throw away. He'd come close a couple times, even taken gone so far as to remove it from its resting place, but always it ended up tossed back inside, the safe's door slammed closed and locked away again. Safe from him and anyone who might be curious if they caught a glimpse of it.

Fingers closing around the velvet case, Thorin squeezed it tightly in his hand for a moment, like it might disappear if he didn't hold it tight enough. Withdrawing it after a steadying breath Thorin locked up the safe and then walked over to take a seat behind his desk, setting the case there in the middle and then staring at it, arms crossed in front of him. Mentally he debated with himself for a few minutes before he'd sufficiently beaten himself up to the point where he had to reach over and flip the lid open, revealing the ring nestled in the plush satin it had rested in for years now.

It was a one of a kind design, never worn and created for one man and on man only. In general rings designed for members of the Durin family were elaborately engraved and featured large, perfectly cut, high quality gemstones that were a testament to the wealth and skill of the family's company, but not this one.

Two slim circles of mithril, held together by a leafy vine pattern in the middle, the ring also featured what Thorin considered a very small diamond that happened to be the exact shade of his own eyes. Not what he would have chosen, Thorin acknowledged as he stared at the ring, but not being a complete idiot he'd shown Bilbo pictures of various rings under the guise of getting the other man's opinion on their new line. In doing so he'd figured out very quickly that Bilbo preferred simple and elegant, his lover expressing the sentiment that the majority of the rings Thorin had mentally earmarked as possibilities were gaudy, too big, and or liable to put someone's eye out.

So he'd gone as simple as he could, and never had the ring met its intended recipient to get his opinion one way or the other.

Only he and the designer knew it even existed, and he hadn't even told his employee who it was for as he'd passed it off as a commission because he'd wanted the best and hadn't wanted to risk its existence leaking out before he was ready for it to. So no one knew that he'd had an engagement ring made for the man he'd thought he'd spend the rest of his life with before their life together had exploded in their faces and destroyed what might have been.

Or so he'd been telling himself for years now. But he'd kept the ring.

There had never been anyone who'd come close to comparing to Bilbo in his mind, and he'd long ago accepted that he would remain a bachelor for the rest of his life because of the little pain in his arse. How Bilbo felt about him, what he meant to the other man, Thorin didn't know anymore. His lover was an open book emotionally with most everyone, but towards the end of their relationship, and ever since, he'd sensed that Bilbo often retreated behind protective walls when it came to him, showing him only what he wanted him to see. Before this whole mess with Bilbo's stalker had happened they hadn't spent time alone together in forever, and now that they were…he wanted –no needed, he needed to see what Bilbo was hiding, to know once and for all whether or not he had any reason to hope that maybe, just maybe, there was a chance that they could fix things.

Unfortunately both he and Dis were right about the fact that he was absolute pants at talking about that sort of thing, Thorin acknowledged with a low groan, and that was on top of the highly charged situation they were in hanging over their heads, namely the fact that Frodo could and would be negatively affected if they fucked this up and –dammit!

"Thorin?"

Slowly lifting his head Thorin's heart clutched at the sight of Bilbo standing in his office doorway, the smaller man dwarfed by the shirt Thorin had worn earlier in the day. Bilbo's hair was a curly mess at the moment, his lover's slim hand rising to knuckle his sleep heavy eyes as he walked into the room on bare feet. He'd managed to avoid explaining anything to Bilbo thanks to his nephews wearing his lover out before they'd gotten home, but apparently Bilbo had found enough of a second wind to seek him out.

"What's that?" Bilbo asked him, pointing at the ring case as he came to a stop in front of the desk. It was turned towards Thorin, so from where he stood he couldn't see the contents yet.

A million answers to that question came to Thorin's mind, but instead he stretched out a hand and then turned the box around before pushing it closer to Bilbo so that he could take it if he wished.

Eyebrows rising a little, Thorin's expression foreboding expression not helping the situation one little bit, Bilbo reached out and picked it up, eyes going wide with surprise while his lips curved into a delighted smile. "Why this is lovely, Thorin. I love it. Is this for an upcoming line? It's not a typical Erebor design, but it will be a beautiful addition to your collection."

The smile slowly leaving Bilbo's face in response to the fact that Thorin was staring at him so strangely, Bilbo asked if there was something wrong. Was he worried it wouldn't sell?

"That ring was never meant to be sold."

"Oh. Why not?"

"Because it was designed for you and you alone."

Blinking hard to try and remove the last of the sleepy cobwebs in his brain and eyes, Bilbo stared down at the ring and then back to Thorin, mind unable to comprehend what he was being told. He didn't wear jewelry, Thorin knew that, and his birthday wasn't for a long while yet though it was entirely possible that the idiot had forgotten the date. And yet…this was not the sort of ring you gave as a token, and while they were currently lovers Bilbo knew that a ring like this couldn't have been thrown together in the short time he'd been staying with Thorin. He recognized the designer and knew him to be Thorin's best, the man only working on the most expensive and exclusive Erebor designs.

Ergo….ergo the only logical explanation was that Thorin had had this made for him before, when they'd been a couple, and had never given it to him for some reason

Understanding that, and having no choice but to realize what sort of ring it was, Bilbo raised his head with denial heavy in his voice as he asked why Thorin had had this made for him.

Thorin just sat there, watching him from his big leather chair for what felt like an eternity with a face that showed none of his thoughts and feelings before he finally answered the question.

"If I was successful in saving the company…I was going to ask you to marry me."


	14. Telling The Truth

Note: It was indeed cruel to leave off where I did, hence the earlier than usual update. I think this chapter will make up for it hopefully heh.

Telling The Truth

Thorin's words hitting him like fists directly to his gut, Bilbo actually stumbled back a couple steps, the ring box clutched tightly against his body in a defensive manner. Like it was a shield, when in fact it was the cause of the imaginary blows. And in some distant part of his mind Bilbo wryly noted that all the great shocks in his life tended to involve the infuriating man in front of him in some way, but that voice was quickly drowned out by all the other voices that were clamoring for some explanation as to why the hell Thorin was telling him this now, much less how it could be true.

"But -but you were pulling away from me even before you kicked me out!" Bilbo couldn't have stopped the stammered words pouring out of his mouth if he'd tried, Thorin's words destroying any hope of damming them up. "Even before, I knew it was only a matter of time before you dumped me. That you were just keeping me around because I was usefu,l and Gandalf wanted me, and -why would you -everything you DID made it clear that Erebor was all you cared about, and that I was a complete and total idiot for ever thinking, for hoping that I meant something to you aside from the sex."

The silence that greeted that statement was long enough that Bilbo's eyes started to fire up, anger rising to new heights inside him at the idea that Thorin meant to just leave him hanging after blowing his world to pieces. And then Thorin was speaking and everything went to hell in a hand basket all over again.

"I had to put everything I had into the company because if it failed, I'd have nothing. Everything would have had to be sold, and while we wouldn't have been destitute…I couldn't ask you to marry me if I'd never been anything but a failure in your eyes."

"You…you…you STUPID MAN! YOU STUPID, STUPID MAN!"

Eyes welling up with tears, and feeling just as stupid as he was accusing Thorin of being, Bilbo could feel his legs threaten to give out on him, and that being the case he let them fold so that he ended up sitting on his bum on the floor, his legs splayed out in front of him. And ignoring the fact that Thorin had lurched out of his chair and was now staring down at him from across the desk, Bilbo just stared at the ring box he was cradling against his chest while he sniffled, eyes swimming with unshed tears and too many emotions to separate.

But damn if he was going to cry. Punch Thorin possibly, if the idiot got within punching distance, but he was not going to cry and…and…Thorin had had an engagement ring made for him! For real.

And while the logical part of Bilbo's brain was trying to tell him that that didn't mean Thorin had loved him back then, the jackarse had probably just thought that they worked well together and that he's be more than happy to provide him with plenty of heirs for the future. Heirs were needed to carry on the damn company after all, so of course Thorin would have the mindset that he'd have to marry someday and they were fecking spectacular in bed so -

Completely losing his train of thought when Thorin came around the desk to take a seat on the floor beside him, Bilbo turned his head to watch the bastard warily. This put Thorin in perfect punching distance now that he thought about it, but that would require letting go of the ring box and working up the energy to hit the bastard, when he felt like he didn't have any energy at all. The life and the wind had been sucked right out of him, it felt like.

"If I'd ask you before everything went to hell…would you have said yes?"

Remembering his younger self well Bilbo's lips curved wryly as he nodded, the gesture punctuated by the fact that his emotions were currently laid bare for the other man to see. He was beyond caring about that at the moment.

"I wouldn't have cared if you lost the company, except what it would have done to you to lose it. You idiot -you could never be a failure. You'd have found something else, and frankly I'd have been happy if you hadn't had the weight of the Erebor on your shoulders!"

A pause, and then Thorin asked him if he understood now, why he'd reacted so badly when he'd found out that Bilbo had gone behind his back to secure backing from the others.

Eyes widening, that hadn't even registered or occurred to him, Bilbo arrowed his thoughts in that direction, feeling what color he had in his cheeks drain away. He'd figured out long ago that what he'd done had hurt Thorin's infamous Durin pride, he'd gotten that, and while he'd thought said pride was a stupid reason to ruin the idiot's life and that of Erebor's employees…but if it had been more than that, more than just hurt pride…

"Bilbo?"

"I…I just wanted to save you." His voice small Bilbo couldn't hold Thorin's gaze any longer, his eyes dropping back down to stare at his lap as he tried to find both the words and the composure to speak them. "It was killing you, losing it by inches as the deadline got closer and closer. I meant to help. I never meant to-"

"I know. Even then I knew, when we broke up and I…I kicked you out of the company and my life. I knew but it -it was like you were telling me I wasn't man enough to do it myself. That you thought I needed you to rescue me." The hint of insult in his voice said it still stung, even now. Because they both knew that in the end he most likely would have failed to save Erebor if not for Bilbo's interfering. And that just made it worse instead of being a balm to those old wounds.

Lips twitching a little, how could they not, Bilbo made a somewhat watery sound of amusement. "I'm not strong enough to carry you around princess style."

Both smiled at the mental image of what would happen if Bilbo were to try and most certainly fail epically to carry Thorin, it would be a complete disaster. Some of the tension eased from their faces as a result of the comical scenarios in their heads, though the amusement faded quickly enough. The seriousness of the situation they found themselves in returned their thoughts to weightier, harder things that they needed to face whether they liked it or not.

"You wouldn't marry someone you didn't love."

Understanding what Thorin was implying, and subtly asking, Bilbo nodded his head. "Yes. I loved you madly. I'd have done anything for you, much less marry you." And that was the honest truth, Bilbo thought with a sigh.

A moment of silence, with Thorin's eyes practically pinning him in place, and then came another question that was directly related to the first. "Do you still love me?"

Body jerking in reaction, though if he'd been thinking clearly he might have had a glimmer that Thorin might ask that given -oh. Oh God. "You kept it. All this time…and you kept the ring."

"I did."

Bilbo wanted to ask why, but the words couldn't come out because if Thorin's answer wasn't the ones he wanted to hear, he really would cry like a little girl. And while his pride was miniscule in comparison to Thorin's, he still had it.

But Thorin's gaze said he understood perfectly, what Bilbo wasn't saying but wanted to know. "I nearly threw it out a few times, but I couldn't do it. It was yours. And as bloody stupid as it made me feel -I hoped someday I'd give it to you."

It wasn't a declaration of love, either then or now, but it was a miracle that Thorin hadn't destroyed or gotten rid of the ring given the man's explosive temper. Really, Bilbo couldn't believe the ring had survived this long. And opening the case up to look at it again Bilbo realized too, that his own tastes had been taken into consideration. This wasn't some flashy Erebor ring, a typical Durin bling ring. This was solely for him.

"I'm glad you didn't throw it away."

Shuddering when Thorin's hand cupped his cheek, the skin to skin contact too much to handle at the moment, Bilbo bit down on his bottom lip as he tried and failed to keep what emotional shields he'd had in place. But no, they were in ruins now, everything he felt in his eyes.

"You still love me." There was such relief and wonder in Thorin's voice.

And then Thorin cleared his throat, his voice decidedly husky and…vulnerable. "Would you marry me now?"

Bilbo wanted to say yes, it was on the tip of his tongue, but he wasn't the man he'd been when he'd fallen in love with Thorin. Their breakup had left deep scars, and even knowing that he'd meant far more to Thorin than he'd realized…the man hadn't once said how he felt and there was also Frodo to consider here. He knew that there was little that Thorin wouldn't do for their son, and he doubted he was the only one who'd noticed how much Frodo loved them living together like they were a regular family. This proposal…

"Why are you asking?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you love me, Thorin? If you're asking for any other reason…I can't say yes." It would kill him eventually, having everything Thorin had to offer except the thing he wanted most. The idiot's heart.

"I wouldn't be asking if I didn't…care about you that much."

"Thorin." Bilbo shifted over on his knees, getting right in Thorin's face as his eyes conveyed the fact that if Thorin wanted him, he was going to have to bite the bullet so to speak and use the L word. If he wasn't willing to do that…well then that was that.

)

Knowing what Bilbo was demanding, unfortunately, Thorin grimaced at him. But he'd been telling himself that he was going to have to say the damn words, and even though Bilbo hadn't said it exactly he had seen it in the man's eyes before the brown eyes had flared with anger because Bilbo wanted certain words and wasn't hearing them. And Thorin supposed, as the alpha male in this relationship, he was probably supposed to say it first in this situation. Unfortunately.

"I'm asking because I love you."

Hands suddenly full of Bilbo, the other man having launched himself at him so that Bilbo was now sitting in Thorin's lap, neither could have been happier.

Smiling at the feel of Bilbo's nimble fingers sliding into his hair, Thorin didn't have to be convinced to let Bilbo use his grip on the unruly strands to move his head in the right angle to mash their lips together, in a messy, uncoordinated, but very enthusiastic kiss of extreme celebration.

And smiling against those lips Thorin lined their mouths up properly, wrapping his arms around Bilbo's waist to keep him right where he was. Right where he belonged and would stay if he knew what was good for him. Because now that he knew Bilbo still loved him, he wasn't letting either of them ruin things again.

But he needed to hear both the words and the most important word of all, the answer to his proposal about them getting married, so with great regret and plans to do a great deal of snogging afterwards, Thorin raised his head and asked Bilbo point blank if that was a yes to his question.

A sound of happy amusement, and then Bilbo was leaning back so that he could better meet Thorin's gaze while he brought the hand that had held the ring box the entire time between them. "If you ask properly it will be."

"Properly?" He did not like the sound of that.

"Properly." Bilbo repeated, his tone firm. "Someday our children are going to ask how you proposed, and I am not telling them that I said yes despite the fact that you couldn't be bothered to do anything remotely romantic or special. So I AM going to be able to tell them you got down on one knee and actually asked, instead of hinting in the hopes of avoiding the rest."

"Bloody hell, are you serious?" He'd be more upset, but the idea of them having children, plural, was distracting Thorin a little. Especially the image of a little girl with Bilbo's curls and eyes, going all wide eyed and excited over the idea that she'd be proposed to when she was all grown up.

Provided of course she could find a bloke he deemed worthy of his baby girl, which wasn't bloody likely. Kili and Fili could help him hide the bodies of the idiots who dared to think otherwise.

"Thorin."

Brought back to the present by the elbow to his side, Bilbo's was surprisingly pointed, Thorin turned his thoughts back to what they'd been discussing before he'd mentally started planning the mass murder of his daughter's future boyfriends.

"You're really going to make me get on one knee?"

"I'll make it up to you, but yes."

Liking the sound of that first part, though obviously not the rest of it, Thorin gave a resigned nod, not at all pleased when Bilbo slid off his lap and then standing up held out the ring box to him. But knowing better than to argue at this point, especially given the fact that he'd just been told he would get a yes unless he really, really fucked this up, Thorin figured the knee thing wasn't too much to ask as he took the ring box from Bilbo's hand.

Actually, now that he thought about it, it was rather ridiculous, the situation they found themselves in. He was only wearing trousers, ones that he was pretty sure still carried a mustard stain that Frodo's fingers had accidentally transferred to the material during lunch. His hair was probably as tousled as Bilbo's, or almost as bad since those honey brown curls were quite the mess at the moment, and made Bilbo look quite a bit younger than he actually was. Add in the fact that Bilbo was currently wearing his shirt, one the man had helped Frodo pick out for him for Father's Day last year, plus the bare feet and the fact that Bilbo was tapping his one foot impatiently…

"I could do this better…somewhere." Public places were out, he was not making a spectacle of himself that way, but if the weather was decent come morning he could propose in the garden his sister had insisted his landscapers put in for him. That would be somewhat romantic…maybe?

Laugh. "Thorin, it's fine. Just ask. You can make everything else up to me later…while I'm making the getting down on one knee thing up to you."

Trusting what he saw on Bilbo's face, plus he did want to get this over with, Thorin opened the jewelry box's lid so that the ring was on display as he shifted into position on one knee, as requested.

"Bilbo Baggins, will you marry me."

"You really don't have a romantic bone in your body, I swear." There was laughter in Bilbo's voice as he shook his head, his grin huge. "But yes, yes I'll marry you."

Grinning back, how could he not, Thorin removed the ring from its satin bed and taking the hand Bilbo offered slipped his ring onto the man's finger, the fit perfect.

)

Waking up Frodo took a moment lie back and appreciate the fact that his special lamp was sending images of the constellations revolving around his bedroom ceiling. But he'd watched them plenty, and he knew all their names by now too so they couldn't distract him for very long. And he was all by himself at the moment, Frodo thought with a frown, and he didn't want to be because he knew a bad man was trying to hurt his daddy and maybe him too. That was why they were staying with Papa, because only a really, really stupid prat would ever pick a fight with his papa, who was as strong as Wreck It Ralph and maybe even Uncle Teddy. So he wasn't too worried, but he still felt a little sick to his stomach thinking about something happening to his daddy, and those thoughts had him throwing off his covers, determined to check for himself that his daddy was still okay.

But his daddy wasn't in his room when he checked, and papa wasn't in his either!

The butterflies in his stomach taking flight, Frodo was about to start panicking when he saw that the door leading to his papa's study was open a little, and there was light coming out through the cracks.

Hurrying over Frodo opened the door and then stuck his head in, his eyes widening in surprise as he took in the fact that his parents were kissing! They never did that!

Wrinkling his nose, he wasn't terribly fond of kissing and other yucky stuff like that, Frodo decided the only way to find out why they were snogging was to ask them. Pulling on his daddy's shirt as soon as he'd managed to sneak up on them, Frodo waited until his parents had pulled apart to stare down at him before asking why they were snogging each other.

The two shared a look, and then his papa was crouching down so that they were closer to each other.

"You know how you asked me if we could be a real family?"

Cheeks flushing, Frodo stared down at his feet before slowly nodding his head.

When fingers gently lifted his chin up Frodo saw that his daddy had crouched down too, beside Papa. And they were both smiling at him, and didn't look mad, so he figured he wasn't in trouble even though the two both got pinched looks on their faces, whenever he hinted that he wanted them to be a real family and live together.

"Frodo, you're getting your wish."

And with stunned shock Frodo saw that the hand his daddy was holding out towards him had a ring on the special finger where wedding rings went.

"Oh my goodness!"


	15. Plans To Make

Plans to Make

For the next few minutes neither Thorin nor Bilbo could get much of a word in otherwise due to Frodo jumped up and down for joy and babbled away in a language that neither really understood aside from a few words here and there. That Frodo was really happy was obvious though, which was a relief even as they tried to get him to calm down a little since they didn't want him to make himself sick either. Neither man was entirely sure the boy was stopping to breath.

And then Frodo finally found enough composure to put together a whole sentence that his parents could understand, his words striking both men dumb to the point where they were the ones reduced to barely understandable gibberish.

"THIS MEANS I GET TO HAVE A LITTLE BROTHER OR SISTER NOW!"

Luckily for his parents, Frodo followed his exclamation with an excited victory dance and a list of all the things he was going to do with his future little brother or sister, which meant that he didn't even notice his parents 's inability to form a proper sentence. Not that Bilbo and Thorin both didn't want more children, they very definitely did, but neither had suspected how much Frodo wanted siblings, or how soon the boy would start asking for them.

One more thing to add to the list of things to think about, it seemed.

For his part Bilbo could do little more than look at Thorin and then drop his gaze in embarrassed pleasure, while Thorin quickly got over his worry that they were going to have to have another birds and the bees talk with Frodo, and instead focused with pleasure on the fact that yes, he was most definitely going to make sure that his son had not one, but at least a couple of siblings to play with in the future. The very near future if he had anything to say about it now that he knew it was an option. And this time he'd be there from the very beginning. He wouldn't miss anything from the first ultrasound to the birth itself. They'd do it right this time, straight down the line.

"So when can I get my brother or sister? Huh? When, Papa? Daddy?" Frodo looked back and forth between them, his blue eyes lit up like it was Christmas Eve, and he wanted to know how much longer until Santa made his appearance.

And while Bilbo stuttered over how to answer that, Thorin crouched down so that he was closer to Frodo's eyelevel.

"I'll work really hard to get you that little brother or sister as quickly as possible." Thorin told him gravely, smiling widely on the inside. "And if you were to head to bed right now, in fact, your Daddy and I could get busy arranging that for you."

"YAY!" Beaming in response, this was the best day ever!, Frodo gave both his parents hugs of thanks for agreeing to give him a brother or sister before saying a hasty good night and then running to the door with the intent to get into bed as quickly as possible. He'd had no idea that this whole baby thing worked just like Santa Claus, but that was just fine with him. Maybe there'd be a baby in Daddy's tummy tomorrow! That would be awesome!

"THORIN DURIN!" As soon as the loud closing of their son's bedroom door reached his ears Bilbo rounded on his fiancée, his cheeks and ears bright red with mortification as he placed his hands on his ample hips. "I can't believe you said that to him!"

Thorin's grin could only be called lecherous. "It was the truth."

"You…you…you are not getting me pregnant before the wedding, Durin. It's just not happening, understand?" Just the thought of it looking like a shotgun wedding, especially given everything that had happened the last time he and Thorin were a couple, made Bilbo feel a little sick to his stomach. "And weddings like the one we're going to have to have take a long time to plan and arrange…you're going to have to explain to him why he has to wait a little while, because he's going to keep asking now, believe me. And you brought that on yourself, just so we're clear. I'm not going to help you, this is all your fault that he thinks he'll have a sibling before the month is over!"

Wrapping his arms around Bilbo's waist, he really was adorable when he got riled up like this, Thorin smiled as he stated that they could get married tomorrow as far as he was concerned.

"We most certainly cannot! You're a Durin! You have business associates and other important people in your life that will have to come because if they feel slighted…and my family is legion! It could take at least a year before we can make this happen, if that." Just thinking about how much work and trouble it was going to be organizing the whole thing had all the extra color Bilbo had had in his face draining away. "I'll have to find the right caterers, florists, where we're going to have the reception and-"

For both their sakes Thorin pulled Bilbo in for a long, thorough kiss before stating that there was no way in hell he was going to wait a year. It was not happening. "I've waited long enough for you already."

"Oh really? Do you have any idea how time consuming and difficult planning a regular wedding is, much less one that's basically going to be the wedding of the year because you're in it?" Bilbo could see endless arguments in their near future over this, and that did not bode well for them. Especially, he thought with a wince, when he factored in how easily they got on each other's last nerve without even meaning to. Or not meaning to very much.

Thinking much the same thing, Thorin wrapped his arms more firmly around Bilbo's waist. "Or what we could do is have a nice, small wedding with only the people we actually like there to witness it. Because we sure as hell aren't getting married to impress anyone, or to give anyone an excuse to dress up and eat fancy food on my dime. You becoming mine, that's what's important here."

"That was almost romantic."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." And being a firm believer in rewarding good behavior, especially since Thorin needed a lot of training in the husband department, Bilbo leaned in for another enjoyable bout of snogging before taking a step back to smile up at the man he was going to marry come hell or high water. And remembering what they'd gone through to get here, that he'd basically had to have a serial killer after him before he and Thorin had manned up enough to talk about their feelings, Bilbo decided to hell with the wedding and arguing about it for the moment. They'd deal with that later.

Instead, Bilbo cuddled that much closer and did a little leering of his own. "What's say, just for tonight, we actually celebrate being engaged properly, and we can argue about the rest tomorrow?"

"I'd say that sounds like a damn fine idea to me."

And so saying Thorin reached down and slid his hands under his shirt to get at Bilbo's naked skin, lowering his head at the same time to nip the tip of the other man's ear. "After all, we should get plenty of practice in, so that when we are married I can get you pregnant as soon as possible."

Shuddering as much from Thorin's tone of voice as the nip, Bilbo had to clear his throat before pointing out that Thorin was going to regret that once he really was fat and pregnant. No sex for him, after all, once he was as big as a bloody whale. Not to mention a back too sore to let him get comfortable in any position for long, he did not remember that fondly either.

Thinking about being pregnant was just killing his mood, really. Ugh.

"Now that sounds like a challenge." Was Thorin's opinion, his thoughts running opposite of Bilbo's. He couldn't wait to see his lover round with their baby, and would have said so if not for the face Bilbo was currently making.

Bilbo rolled his eyes, though the way Thorin was looking at him made him squirm in the best sort of way. "Of course it does, to you."

Grinning like a much younger man, Thorin suggested they head back to bed. Just in case Bilbo was right. Better to get the shagging in now while they still could. And practice did make perfect, right?

"You're incorrigible."

"Is that a yes?"

"It's a yes, I suppose. Since you need the practice."

"Oh, you're going to pay for that, Mr. Baggins, soon to be Durin."

Opening his mouth to point out that he hadn't agreed to the idea of changing his last name when they got married, Bilbo mentally said to hell with that argument and told Thorin to lead the way instead.

They had some practicing to do, apparently.

)

It was early when Bilbo's cellphone went off, a little after seven in the morning in fact when Bilbo checked the time. Not the time anyone wanted to be woken up on a Sunday morning, which made Bilbo think that whoever it was calling, they had really bad manners. Of course right after that it occurred to him that the call might have something to do with what was going on with Sméagol, which was why he stopped ignoring it and bolted out of Thorin's arms instead, much to the other man's ire. And as it was too late to check who it was first, they'd been ignoring it very determinedly, Bilbo just accepted the call and brought it to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Good morning. Sorry to wake you, Bilbo. I wasn't going to call so early but Bell said I should, just in case it was important."

"It's alright, Hamfast. I trust yours and Bell's instincts. What's up?"

"Well I was out walking the dog and I ran into Finn, whose house is right behind yours? We talked a bit, and he mentioned something that his son woke him up to tell him something, about three this morning. He figured the boy just imagined it, and most likely he did given the hour, but I thought I should tell you in case he didn't. I mean I would think he'd imagined it, but you did say no one could figure out how the crazy bloke that's after you got into your house in the first place so-"

"What did the boy say he saw?" It was bad manners to interrupt someone when they were talking, but in this case Bilbo wasn't about to let Hamfast ramble. Not when lives could potentially be at stake, if the bastard in question moved on to other prey or tried to ambush him at Erebor or here at Thorin's. He didn't doubt Sméagol was crazy enough to do that.

"Someone really skinny and dressed in black, climbing up the back of your house like Spiderman."

"Climbing up…seriously?"

"I know, believe me. I can't imagine that anyone could climb up that way. There wouldn't be handholds, at least that I could see, but I thought just in case…it's probably nothing. I shouldn't have bothered you with it, especially on a Sunday when you're probably not getting nearly enough sleep as is, worrying about everything. I'm-"

"No, don't apologize. You were right to tell me. I'll pass it along to Strider as soon as I hang up. It might be nothing, but better safe than sorry."

"That's what Bell said."

"And your wife is one smart woman. You're lucky to have her."

"So she tells me, often." Was Hamfast amused reply, then a pause and the fuzzy sound of someone else's voice in the background. "And she's looking quite smug at the moment, and telling me I should get off the phone so that you can make that call and I can take Sam. He's a tad cranky at the moment, got a tooth coming in."

"Ouch." Wincing in sympathy, well did he remember the fun of dealing with a teething infant, Bilbo suggested a couple of tricks to help there, and then said his goodbyes and wished his friend luck with Sam.

Naturally as soon as Bilbo had ended the call Thorin wanted to know what the call had been about, Bilbo summarizing what Hamfast had told him about the boy seeing someone climbing up his house like Spiderman. "Would it even be possible?" Bilbo asked, when he was done. "I mean I know its brick, but still, they don't stick out so much that they'd be adequate handholds, would they?"

Drawing Bilbo against his chest, with Bilbo's head tucked under Thorin's chin, Thorin considered the possibility seriously. "I can't see it without gear, but maybe the boy was just exaggerating the Spiderman thing. Either way it was good that your friend called. You should call Strider and let him know that the house needs to be looked over again by his people. If Sméagol did use gear, there might be signs of it."

"All right. Hopefully I don't wake up Arwen too." Bilbo had only met Strider's wife once, but he'd really liked her. She'd been really sweet with Frodo.

"While you do that I'll invite Gandalf, Charles, and Frodo's Uncle Teddy to lunch. We need to update them that its possible Sméagol might try to reach them that way…and discuss sending Frodo away with them to someplace safe."

Bilbo hated the idea, he wanted Frodo to stay with them where he could personally see to it that his baby was safe. But Bilbo also knew that Frodo's safety was a hell of a lot more important than his own selfish wants and needs, and the boy's odds of not being touched by Sméagol evil in any way again would rise the farther away from England he was. And he knew Thorin hated the idea even more than he did, he could see it in the man's eyes.

So he didn't argue, instead placing a kiss on Thorin's shoulder before agreeing with that plan.

"Though you should just text Charles or Beorn." Bilbo advised, trying to sound brisk and unaffected. "Odds are they don't need to know right this minute, and they'll need all the sleep they can get now if they do end up having to babysit Frodo."

"Why not Gandalf?"

"He forgets to check his phone a lot. Given the situation he's probably being better at remembering than usual, but still, just in case."

"Understood."

Both men reluctantly let go of the other so that Thorin could retrieve his cell, the two propping themselves up against the bed's headboard side by side to compensate.

"Wait. Can we trade assignments here? Your little fingers are better at the whole texting thing than mine."

Lips twitching, he'd forgotten for a moment how much Thorin hated texting, Bilbo nodded and agreed that that was probably a better idea. Oh, and since Thorin was actually going to be speaking to Strider, he needed to remember to apologize for possibly waking the man and his wife up so early on a Sunday morning.

"Yes, Dear."

Grinning rather stupidly at Thorin, he couldn't help it, Bilbo had to force himself to turn his attention to texting both Charles and Beorn about the possibility that Sméagol had Spidey powers. Thinking about how the bastard might use those skill made him want to frown, but Bilbo stubbornly clung to his good mood. He refused to let that sick son of a bitch overshadow the fact that he and Thorin were engaged, and for the moment they were all as safe as they could be.

And Hell help Sméagol if he tried to take Thorin or Frodo away from him, Bilbo thought darkly to himself. Not that even that would save the creep then. Bilbo would make sure of it.

)

Since they were already awake after making their calls, Thorin and Bilbo resigned themselves to getting up instead of just going back to sleep. Instead they shared a shower and a quick shag, which went a long way towards de stressing them again. After that they got dressed and Bilbo headed downstairs to start on breakfast, Thorin grabbing his laptop and taking it with him into Frodo's room. Not that he told Bilbo that, since he didn't want to add to his worries. And he honestly didn't think that Sméagol was going to suddenly appear and attack, he just…needed to be around Frodo for the time being, especially since he might have to send their boy away to protect him.

His precious boy, with his well tousled curls and sleep flushed cheeks. There wasn't a more beautiful sight in the world, as far as he was concerned. He could stare at the greatest gift the universe had given him for hours, just like this, and all would be right in his world.

Pulling a chair up, as he often did for story time, Thorin settled in and opened up his laptop, charging it up while watching Frodo sleep out of the corner of his eye.

Only paying slight attention to what was on his screen, it wasn't like he actually wanted to read the reports, Thorin was looking in Frodo's direction when the boy rolled over and onto his side, staying that way for a moment before he started knuckling his eyes, looking somewhat blearily around before focusing on his father's face.

"Did ya make me a brother or sister?"

Crud, Bilbo was right. This was going to be a thing now. And as much as he wanted to put the blame on Bilbo's decree that there would be no baby until after the wedding, which apparently had to be a big deal, Thorin knew Bilbo would also be beyond angry with him if he dared.

"Babies take a while, unfortunately. But Daddy and I will get you one as soon as we can, okay?"

Bottom lip sticking out in a pout, Frodo was not happy to hear he might have to wait a while. "Is it at least in Daddy's tummy now?"

"Not yet. But I'll work on that, I promise."

"Pinky swear?" Frodo held out his own expectantly, grinning when Thorin took it.

"Pinky swear."


	16. Plans Are Made

Note: Serious shout out and thanks to all of you who realized another site had taken my hobbit fanfics and started posting them without my permission, complaining on my behalf until they were taken down. You guys are awesome, especially Lore_Of_Lavennia and danceoftheentwives.

Plans Are Made

It wasn't a new brother or sister, not even close, but Frodo was happy to hear over breakfast that three of his favorite people were coming over for lunch to see him. Especially since that meant there'd be lots of good food to eat since his Daddy always went overboard with that sort of thing when it came to company. Plus both his daddy and his papa kept smiling and kissing each other for the whole morning, which was sort of gross but not, because it was what parents were supposed to do and that made him happy too. They were a real family now and this was going to be their house and he was eventually going to get his new brother or sister.

And if they kept being a little slow about that last part he'd ask Santa to talk to the stork for him.

So yes, Frodo was a very happy boy all morning, running around like he'd just eaten way too many sweets and therefore could not be expected to be quiet, much less sit down and do something for very long.

For their part Thorin and Bilbo watched him with a great deal of amusement, though they were both a little shocked to see their normally well behaved and quiet little boy be so loud and noisy, not to mention constantly coming in to check on them wherever they might be to confirm yet again that they were getting married and yes, most importantly, that he would be getting a younger brother or sister in the future.

Half an hour before their guests were due, and they would be punctual given that Charles was coming, Bilbo suggested the boy stand by the window of the front parlor and keep a watch out so that they'd know the minute their guests had arrived, just to keep the boy from getting underfoot for that half an hour.

Not that Frodo didn't yell out to them every couple minutes to inform them that no, they weren't here yet.

Then four minutes before they were due, Frodo yelled out that they had arrived and could he run out and meet them?

Yelling back 'NO' in near perfect tandem, Bilbo and Thorin dropped what they were doing and hurried over to where there son was standing in front of the door, giving them bewildered looks as to why he couldn't just open the door and run out to say hi. He'd done it like a zillion times before.

"We're…ah…going together."

Shooting his daddy an unimpressed look, boy his parents were being weird now that they were engaged and stuff, Frodo rolled his eyes a little once his back was to them and opened the door, leaving it open for the other two as he headed down the steps and started running towards the new arrivals while yelling at the top of his lungs.

"GUESS WHAT! GUESS WHAT! DADDY AND PAPA ARE GETTING ME A BROTHER OR SISTER!"

Cheeks bright red Bilbo called out that that was only after the wedding, elbowing Thorin when the man dared to chuckle at his reaction like it was funny, which it so wasn't.

And then, as the newly engaged duo watched with an air of puzzlement, both Gandalf and Beorn sighed in tandem and then reached into their pockets and took out their wallets. Then the two handed a number of bills over to Charles, who accepted the money with a small smile of satisfaction before informing Bilbo and Thorn that he was delighted to hear they were engaged and wished them great happiness.

Realizing what the exchange of money most likely meant before Thorn did, Bilbo put his hands on his hips and demanded to know if the three of them had been betting on his and Thorin's relationship.

"Oh not just us." Gandalf assured them with a smile, the look Bilbo was aiming in his direction not even fazing him in the slightest. "There's quite a pot going on at Erebor, I'm told. They wouldn't let me join that one though, employees only. No idea who won there. This was just between Charles and I originally, Beorn wanted in when I happened to mention it."

"I see. Well congratulations on your win, Charles." Thorin drawled out the words as he made a mental note to track down who's started the betting pool in his company and make him or her very sorry they'd ever applied to work for Erebor.

"He's just never wrong about these sorts of things." Gandalf agreed, looking down at the love of his life with bemused fondness. "It's like he can read people's minds sometimes, honestly. I don't know how he does it."

"Given the state of your mind at times, it's for the best that reading minds isn't in my skill set." Charles shot back with a smirk.

Having put out his arms to be picked up Frodo grinned as Charles set him on his lap while Gandalf pushed them towards the house. "Can you bet when I get my brother or sister? Then it will come true, right?"

"Not really the way that works, Fro." Reaching down Beorn ruffled the boy's hair so that the unruly curls stuck out every which way even more than normal. "Though if anyone could pull that off it probably would be Charles. He slaughtered us ruthless at poker last night." And poker was normally his game. But Gandalf wasn't kidding, the man really did seem to read people's minds, especially when they were bluffing.

Eyes going wide, Frodo asked Charles for confirmation that he had indeed slaughtered them.

"As they are both still walking around and speaking, I would say that they are both grossly exaggerating what I did and didn't do. Just as I would say that they've both forgotten their manners most grievously, as they have yet to give their own congratulations to your parents."

"Ah, quite right. Losing yet another bet with you distracted me." Leaving Charles to steer his own chair Gandalf walked over to give Bilbo a warm hug and express how thrilled he was that they'd finally worked things out for the better. And he very much looked forward to being able to spoil their future children rotten of course. More Frodos was an excellent idea.

While Bilbo rolled his eyes over that last part Gandalf and Thorin exchanged manly handshakes, Gandalf putting a little more strength into his than usual as he stated that he knew Thorin would make Bilbo very happy. The or else might have been silent, but everyone but Frodo heard it nonetheless.

His turn next, Beorn was rather annoyed that Gandalf had beaten him to the threatening of Thorin's person if he didn't treat Bilbo right, especially since to his way of thinking he was far more fit to deliver the beating than the old man. But shrugging that off he opted to be the bigger man figuratively as well as literally, and instead settled for picking Bilbo up in a big bear hug and giving him a smacking kiss on the lips before congratulating him. Laughing and hugging him back just as hard, Bilbo thanked him for his well wishes and then told him to put him down before he dropped him.

Doing as ordered Beorn set Bilbo down on his feet with a devilish gleam in his eyes, Bilbo opening his mouth to comment on that fact when his friend stepped over and literally picked Thorin up to give him a bear hug too, just to be an ass.

Laughing hysterically over the shocked look on his papa's face, Frodo would have fallen off Charles lap if the older man's arms hadn't tightened around him. Gandalf was laughing too, while Charles and Bilbo both shared long suffering looks.

"Put him down before he hurts you." Bilbo ordered, wishing Beorn was lower to the ground so that he could twist the ass's ear. He did not need the two getting into a fight just before lunch. It would upset his digestion.

For his part Thorin spoke through clenched teeth as he was lowered back to the ground, the just of his words being that Beorn was damn lucky Thorin needed him alive to protect Charles and Gandalf for them. Once that wasn't the case…well his affairs better be in order if he tried to do that again.

"Ah, you wouldn't harm me." Beorn was all smiles now, deliberately being annoying about it because he figured it was his duty to put the man through his paces since Bilbo's mum wasn't alive to do it instead. "After all, when you marry Bilbo, well, that will make us family."

"No, if you pick him up, I'm going to let him hit you. I'll even cheer him on."

"Papa's going to hit Uncle Teddy?" Frodo's eyes went huge at the idea.

"He might have to if all the holes your Uncle Teddy has put in his own head makes him do stupid things like pick your papa up."

Not taking any offense, Beorn simply shot back that back in the day Bilbo had had a number of holes in his head too.

"Wait…you used to have piercings too? A number of them?"

Cheeks puffing up like a chipmunk's, Bilbo made an aggravated sound and then reminded Thorin that Beorn had just picked him up off the ground like a little kid, and shouldn't he be concentrating on that instead of wanting to discuss what he may or may not have done when he was in college?

Thorin considered, then turned to Beorn and Gandalf and asked if they had pictures.

They did.

)

Thanks to Beorn's willingness to email Thorin copies of the man's pictures of Bilbo when the man was younger and apparently a lot more amendable to having his ears pierced, Thorin was willing to forgive the whole being picked up thing. At least for the time being. The bastard did it again and he'd see to it that the mini mountain was limping for days to come after this whole mess with Stoor was sorted out. Which, given that Beorn seemed to be enjoying needling him quite a bit, Thorin hoped happened very soon or he'd start beating on Bilbo's friend just to work his frustration out.

And also being naturally nosy and overprotective of Bilbo Gandalf was being more than a little annoying too, though thankfully Charles was there to rein his husband in and keep the conversation going relatively smoothly during lunch. Or as smoothly as it could given that the man topic everyone seemed to want to talk about was the wedding.

I mean really, he'd only proposed to Bilbo the night before. You'd think they'd have a small grace period before they started being pressured about dates and all that other nonsense.

Though Thorin did have to laugh when Charles offered to help Bilbo with any of the arrangements, or simply keep Gandalf out of the younger man's hair so that the whole thing didn't become that much stressful for him. This of course led Gandalf into a rant about how his honor had just been besmirched by the supposed love of his life, and had Charles forgotten all of the marvelous, talked about for ages parties he'd hosted in the past?

"I only wish I could forget so many of them." Charles drawled back. "Like when you hired street performers to perform and they stole our guests blind. Or the time you decided to make your own fireworks and set the pool house and a number of other things on fire. Or the time you challenged our guests to make their own volcanos and we had to basically gut the ballroom afterwards."

"Or the time he hired psychics to entertain everyone, and one of them convinced him that he could bend spoons with his mind." Bilbo smirked.

"I did bend that spoon with my mind!" Gandalf argued, puff up with indignation. "Perhaps I've never been able to repeat the experience, but I most certainly bent that spoon! I still have it."

"I seen the spoon." Frodo added helpfully, grinning at Gandalf when the man winked at him.

"And technically he did bend the spoon with his mind."

"Wait…what? You told me I was an old fool to believe that." Gandalf pointed an accusing finger in Charles's direction, incensed that suddenly Charles was backing him up about this after years of ridiculing him over that spoon.

"I said you were an old fool to think I'd believe you used psychic powers to bend that spoon." Was Charles's oh so reasonable answer, the hint of a sparkle in his eyes giving him away. "But I do absolutely believe you used your mind to bend that spoon, in so much as said mind ordered your hands to bend that spoon so that you could pretend to have done it psychically."

Everyone save Gandalf started to laugh then.

And looking thoroughly disgruntled once they'd gotten over laughing at his expense Gandalf, turned to look at Thorin and advised him to run away from marriage as fast as his legs would take him.

"I'll be sure to blame you for putting the idea into my head if I do."

"You pull a runaway bride on me and I will hunt you down, Durin."

"I don't doubt it for a minute."

The two sharing a couple look that had Charles and Gandalf smiling at them while Beorn made gagging noises for Frodo's amusement, the conversation was soon once again on wedding plans, which lasted until the end of the meal when Beorn stated that he couldn't take any more and he and Frodo were going to go upstairs and have an epic Connect Four tournament while the rest of them talked about party favors.

Loving that idea Frodo was all for it, the boy crowing with delight when he was given permission to leave the table though he snagged a few biscuits on the way out for him and his Uncle Teddy to munch on while they were upstairs.

The other four remaining behind, they waited until they could hear the two on the stairs before getting down to business, glad that Beorn had been willing to act as a distraction for Frodo even though he'd naturally wanted to be in on the discussion too.

"Did the police find anything at your house to indicate Stoor had been there?" Charles asked, getting straight to the point.

Bilbo shook his head. "No. Strider said that he talked to the boy and believes him though. Or at least that the boy genuinely believes he saw what he says he saw. He even went through the house himself to see if the officers missed anything but he didn't find any signs of Stoor either."

"Bilbo and I discussed it while Frodo was watching at the window for you, and we decided that if it works for you we'll bring Frodo to your place tomorrow evening and he'll stay with you for the next little while. We'd send him with you today, but we promised him yesterday that tonight we'd have a home videos movie night and we'll probably need to talk him into going to your place as is. Normally he'd jump at the chance, but he knows something's up and he's been a bit clingy the last few days."

"That's fine. I'll arrange for us to travel to Paris post haste. As far as the authorities know that beastly creature has never left the country to hunt his victims, Frodo will be quite safe with us there until this mess is cleaned up."

Nodding in absolute agreement, Charles added that they'd already mentioned the idea to Beorn, who would be going to France with them as added backup.

"We're very rich in friends, aren't we?" Bilbo said to Thorin, taking his hand in his.

"Yes." Thorin agreed as he gave the other two men grateful looks. "We are."

)

Meanwhile

A block away from the Durin estate a man sat in a car with tinted windows, his full concentration on the plans he could hear being made through the ear piece he currently wore. Mentally Gollum congratulated himself yet again for being so smart to pay that stupid university student to plant the bug on the old cripple's chair for him. It had been so simple really, finding a student who was failing the man's class and would be willing to play a little joke on him while the professor was navigating the busy school hallways. Definite worth the money he'd spent, most definitely. If he hadn't, after all, he wouldn't know now that he needed to speed up his plans to get at nasty Bilbo Baggins and the man's preciouses.

Cause it wasn't enough to just kill Baggins' and take the man's one precious anymore. Oh no. This Baggins's had escaped him, tried to outwit him, and had caused him no end of troubles. Baggins had to pay dearly, and wasn't it so nice to hear that Durin had given the man another precious last night that he could take from the fat, filthy bastard's dead finger.

Running a tongue over his rotting teeth, Gollum smiled evilly before holding his hand up to admire his own precious, cooing at it that soon it would have another friend, a very special precious from the way the old men had fawned over the thing. Nothing but the best from an Erebor ring after all.

"Not that it could hold a candle to you, Precious. Oh no, not ever. Nothing is so beautiful and special as my precious."

Eyes staring adoringly at the ring for several minutes, Gollum was lost in it until his ears registered his prey joking about Baggins' annoying little brat's demands for the sibling he wanted so much. Stupid, stupid brat. Wanted to break its little neck, he did. He would, Gollum corrected, as the boy was so precious to Baggins and the man wasn't allowed to have any preciouses.

But how was he supposed to kill Durin?

"He's so very strong, Precious. The records say he's gots guns and he'll know how to use them, Precious. He'll kill us on sight, he will."

Cursing himself for his fear, Gollum smacked himself upside the head a couple of times, loathing the weak side of him with a hatred that was almost as strong as his love for his precious.

"No. No. No! We is doing it tonight! We is breaking in and we is killing Baggins and taking all his preciouses away from him too! We is doing it tonight. Tonight. Tonight!"


	17. Boy Who Cried Wolf

Boy Who Cried Wolf

By the time Gandalf, Charles, and Beorn had left for the night, Thorin was exhausted from all the wedding talk he'd been forced to endure. And it had all been hypothetical, which to his way of thinking did not bode well for him. Especially if Bilbo ended up wanting his opinion on things like colors or decorations, which were high on his list of things he'd really rather not waste his time thinking about. Not that he was stupid enough to say so outloud, but Thorin thought it plenty. In between sending up prayers to whatever gods might happen to be listening. A little divine intervention might be needed in the near future, or more likely a lot of help if this ended up being as big a thing as everyone else seemed to think it had to be.

The look Bilbo had given him when he'd suggested they just elope for the fourth time had warned of dire consequences if he brought that possibility up again.

But for the moment all was calm, Thorin reminded himself, his gaze drifting over to where Frodo was sprawled out on his bean bag chair, the boy's attention focused solely on the telly as they watched the video recording Thorin had made of Kili's seventh birthday. His nephew had wanted a circus themed party, and like a crazy woman Dis had agreed to that.

The results had not been pretty.

"I've said it once and I'll say it again. It's a miracle those boys haven't driven your sister utterly mad by now." Shaking his head in sheer amazement over what was happening on screen, Bilbo face was almost as comical as the clown currently on screen, the poor man trying to do his act but running into serious problems thank to the boys wanting to 'help' him with his show.

Just to be mean Thorin murmured back that they'd gotten bloody lucky with Frodo, and who knew what their next child would be like. Or the ones after that.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Durin. Wedding first, and then you can start talking me into babies."

Turning his head Thorin nipped the top of Bilbo's ear before whispering into it. "Bet I could start talking you into them now."

"You never fight fair." Grumbling the words, though the look in Bilbo's eyes suggested he wasn't seriously annoyed, Bilbo held Thorin's gaze in a staring content that soon had them smiling like idiots at each other, all their attention focused on the happiness of the moment until a loud crash distracted them.

Kili's cake had just met an untimely and uneaten end on screen.

And it was at this point that a visibly distressed and panicky Dis ordered her brother to stopping laughing and filming this shit show and help her, the screen going blank as Thorin complied with her wishes.

"I love that video." Frodo informed them, twisting around to look at them. "Can we watch the Peter Pan video now?"

A couple of years ago Dis had enrolled both Fili and Kili in a drama summer camp, which the boys had begged her to let them do owing to the fact that Fili had fancied a girl who went every year and Kili refused to be left at home without his brother. The end of the summer play for the parents had been a retelling of Peter Pan.

It had not ended well either.

"Go ahead. You know which disc it is."

Cheering, Frodo gave his papa a big grin before getting up to do precisely that, sorting through the DVD cases until he found the right one. Getting the old disc out and the new one in took a little while even though his papa had taught him how to work the complicated entertainment system he had, but Frodo could see that his parents didn't mind the wait since they were busy making eyes at each other. They just couldn't seem to help themselves.

Shaking his head over them Frodo returned to his seat once the DVD started playing, smiling happily to himself as he did so.

Everything was going to be perfect now. He just knew it.

)

After the video was over it was time for Frodo to go to bed, Thorin and Bilbo humoring their son enough to let him draw out the process of picking out his pajamas and what books he wanted them to read to him. Tomorrow he'd be going away with Charles and Gandalf, and the idea of the time apart was weighing on them enough that there was very little they wouldn't do for their baby boy currently. So they both tucked Frodo in and read the boy a story each, and then turning off the main light they left the boy's room with the door open just a little, just in case.

Walking hand in hand the two had barely started to get undressed in Thorin's room, now their room, when Thorin's cellphone went off in his pocket, the sound signaling that the outside security had been tripped.

Having planned for this moment Thorin pulled out the phone and used it to contact security while he retrieved the gun he'd placed up high on a dresser where Frodo couldn't reach it, Bilbo's voice stating that if Thorin had another gun in the room he wanted it.

"You're sure?"

"I'm sure."

After a measured look to make sure he was serious, Thorin nodded and motioned for Bilbo to follow him, retrieving the gun in question from his study after unlocking the correct desk drawer. Setting the gun of his desk Thorin pulled out the ammo, the gun not currently loaded, and he watched closely as Bilbo snatched it out of his hand and loaded the gun himself with quick, economic movements that made it clear that he knew what he was doing.

Baggins were the peaceful lovers of tea and good books read in comfy chairs sorts, but Tooks were another kettle of fish. They did like to raise hell occasionally, as well as do things like hunting and skeet shooting. Bilbo had never liked aiming a gun or rifle at a living creature, and had deliberately missed when he'd been dragged off to hunt for that reason. But he'd liked aiming for targets well enough, and he hadn't argued when Old Took had insisted he learn how to use a gun before moving to the dangerous big city for school.

It had admittedly been over a decade since he'd used a gun, but Bilbo wasn't even worried about that. Because yes he'd be aiming at an actual human being, which was worse than a rabbit or deer, but this man was a threat to Frodo. To Thorin.

He wouldn't hesitate, and he sure as hell wouldn't miss.

Leaving the study side by side, the two shared a look as Thorin stated that he'd head down the stairs and that Bilbo was to take his place outside Frodo's door, the gun steady in Bilbo's hands as he nodded in agreement.

Reminding Bilbo that security was on alert, and even now searching the grounds, Thorin headed down the only flight of stairs leading to the main floor and took his position at the bottom of them, prepared to kill the man who sought to hurt his lover and child on sight. In truth it was what he wanted, as opposed to Gollum just spending the rest of his miserable life rotting away in jail. He wanted the bastard dead and burning in hell, Bilbo and Frodo forever out of his reach.

But no one came or called to inform him that the intruder had been spotted, much less caught. Security reported it as a false alarm after they'd searched the grounds and within the house before returning to their stations outside.

Far from reassured, and adrenaline pumping hard and fast through their veins, Thorin and Bilbo accepted the reassurance that they were safe as fact, but didn't try to go back to their room to sleep. Instead they sat together at the top of the stairs, guns remaining in their hands, their fingers linked together between them as they drew comfort from the other's presence.

And it was just as well, as twice more the alarm went off, then a third that guaranteed that they were all on edge, the security people just as frustrated and annoyed at what had to be a malfunction in the outside security system. The fact that it was being set off at different locations seemed to indicate that it was the system as a whole that was the problem, the man in charge of the night team suggesting that they turn it off and try to reboot the system to see if that would fix the problem.

Having been quiet while the other men, especially Thorin, got their bitching about how stupid technology out of their systems, no pun intended, Bilbo spoke up to point out that this might be a case of the boy who cried wolf.

The others all gave him blank looks in response, which would have made Bilbo roll his eyes if not for the seriousness of the situation.

"'The Boy Who Cried Wolf' is one of Aesop's Fables, it's about a shepherd boy who thinks it's funny to pretend that he and his flock are being attacked by a wolf, calling for help from the villagers and then laughing at them when the coming running to help him. Eventually they get sick of his lies, and decide not to come and 'save' him the next time he calls them."

"And that time it was a real wolf." One of the men put in, remembering the story now. "You think this could be a setup. That the bastard is setting the alarms off and then retreating, so that either we'll turn it off or become complacent when it goes off. Not see him coming until it's too late."

"I didn't even flinch the third time the alarm went off."

Everyone nodded their heads in understanding of what Bilbo meant, they too had assumed it was a false alarm at that point thanks to the other security alerts they'd assumed were malfunctions. But their target was clever, he'd made that quite clear already by evading the authorities and the security experts Thorin had hired to try and find the bastard. And Stoor-Gollum did like his games, especially strategy ones. Setting off the alarms and then retreating, learning their patterns and lulling them into a false sense of security…

The more they thought about it the more certain all the men became that Bilbo was right, and they were being manipulated and played here.

"We could take Frodo and leave."

Thorin looked in Bilbo's direction, considering that option before shaking his head grimly, his jaw harshly set and his blue eyes blazing with barely contained fury. "If that is him out there, he's planned for that. It might even be his end goal."

"But everything we know suggests that he needs it to be personal." Bilbo argued, his hand on Thorin's arm just to make physical contact. "How can it be personal if he makes us crash our car or shoots it up while we're trying to drive away? We could go to Erebor, Thorin, stay the night there. There's no way he could get through the security there, and Gandalf could drop b tomorrow and pick Frodo up from the underground garage. We could make sure that Stoor doesn't know Frodo isn't still with us until he was out of the country and the bastard's reach."

"We need to end this or you and Frodo are never going to be safe."

"Not while Frodo is here. We can't risk him."

"I know. But my gut says that leaving here tonight would be a mistake."

While the security team debated whether or not they should speak up and offer an opinion, Thorin Durin wasn't someone you wanted to anger when he was in a reasonable mood after all, fate intervened as they were saved by the bell, so to speak. The alarm went off again, signaling yet another perimeter breech, and this time the security team headed off to check the grounds with renewed focus and determination. They didn't like being played for fools or made to look incompetent in front of their boss, and more than that, the conversation between the two men had reminded them all that there was a little boy inside the house that was counting on them to do their job to the best of their ability.

And trusting that they would indeed do their job to the best of their ability Thorin went to retake his position on the top of the stairs, shaking his head at Bilbo when his lover remained at his side.

"Stay in Frodo's room with him. Don't leave him alone no matter what. Just in case."

That their baby came first went without saying or argument, Bilbo nodding his head before briefly brushing his lips against Thorin's in a quick kiss.

Then he headed down the hallway, Bilbo letting himself into their son's room and leaving the door open wider this time. He wanted to be able to hear it, if Thorin called out to him.

)

Moving through the shadows like he was one, having mapped out the grounds during his previous visits to the Durin estate, Gollum kept his bulbous eyes moving as he watched for signs of security coming his way. It wouldn't be smart to underestimate them. They were professionals, after all, and Durin could afford the best. But they were so very wrong to think that they could stop him, especially since they were so obviously underestimating him. They wouldn't catch sight of him. He'd be in and out with his prize before they even realized that the last alarm hadn't just been another 'malfunction'.

Reaching the side of the house without interruption, Gollum rolled his shoulders and then started to climb up the corner of the building, where the bricks had been laid in a decorative manner that would provide excellent handholds in comparison to the standard brick pattern on the sides. Everyone had probably assumed even this was unclimbable, and it was true that it would be impossible even for him normally, if not for the ivy currently clinging to the sides of the brick and providing him with additional handholds. He was just light enough that he could manage it, and his will was stronger than anyone had ever given him credit for being.

"Yes, I'm so much stronger and better than the rest, aren't I, Precious?" Enjoying the way the light of the moon made his precious glow, Gollum smiled as he continued to climb, thinking to himself of just what he was here to do.

He wanted to kill them so badly Gollum licked his lips just thinking about how they'd scream and beg and bleed. More than anything he wanted them to fear him. He wanted to take their preciouses away from them and make them his own. Make them nothing, as he'd been nothing before he'd gotten his own precious.

But maybe he should just take the boy instead, Gollum considered for a moment of uneasiness, now that he was actually about to act. Take the boy and use him to make Baggins suffer. He could tie the boy up and cover him in spiders, he could. Let the spiders crawl and bite and torture the stupid little brat who'd run away from him, looked at him like he was disgusting and unworthy of his precious. Or he could bite off a finger and send it to the boy's parents, let the boy bleed and Baggins suffer. Use the brat to lure the Baggins into his trap.

"No. No. You's is being a coward!" Gollum snared at himself, leaning forward to bash his head against the side of the wall, using the pain and the scent of his own blood to focus his thoughts and regain his courage. "You's has gots to kill all of them! Kill all of them and take their preciouses!"

Cause they'd take his precious away from him if they caught him. He'd seen the way that stupid, fat, ugly Baggins had eyed Precious when they'd met for dinner. The bastard had wanted to take Precious, wear it on his chubby, stunted finger and make Gollum nothing again. Stupid Baggins, who thought he was better than him. Who'd cheated, Gollum mentally reminded his precious, beating him at that online riddle competition through deceit and trickery. Baggins, who had one of the most magical and powerful precious stored in his online vault, which he had to now win from Baggins by besting him, making him turn the ring over to him before he killed him. They never truly believed him when he told them that if they gave him the preciouses he would let them live, but they pretended to believe in the hopes that he would, stupid people.

They'd tried to hoard preciouses, keep him away from them when he was their rightful master. His precious was the One Ring after all. It demanded the other preciouses and he had to get them for it. Had to or Precious would punish him. Stop talking to him inside his head. Hate him forever.

There was no pain greater than the idea that his Precious might leave him.

Jaw set, Gollum muttered to himself all the way up to the window he knew led into the boy's room. He was going to use the boy against them first, to make Durin put down his guns. Then he'd kill the man and take his time with the Baggins and his stupid, annoying child. Children should be seen and not heard, and when he was done no one would ever hear that whiny brat again.

Reaching his destination, Gollum carefully braced himself against the sill to keep him in place as he used a glass cutter to cut into the window pane, after finding that the window was indeed locked from the inside. Just as he'd predicted it would be.

And then, just as the circle was almost done, the right curtain was suddenly jerked away to reveal the form of a man in front of him.

Gollum had a second to understand, and then the gun pointed in his direction went off with a loud bang.


	18. Epilogue

Epilogue

Ten Years Later

After a long and trying day at work, Thorin couldn't wait to get home and spend the night doing absolutely nothing. Well, mostly nothing, since he had had to bring some paperwork home with him as per usual, and then there were always the unexpected things that cropped up on any given day that needed Thorin's immediate attention or calamity would ensue. Or dealing with calamity that had occurred during the day that he was now expected to deal with because in Bilbo's mind the situation was all his fault somehow. So really, his evenings could often be as stressful and trying as being at work, but he wouldn't change a thing in the long run.

Parking his car in its usual spot, Thorin grabbed his suitcase and laptop bag and then headed inside the house with both resting over one shoulder, calling out to the other occupants of the domicile to alert them to the fact that he'd finally arrived, being just a little late due to a meeting that had dragged on and on until stabbing himself in the ear with his own pen had sounded like a good idea.

It was Frodo's voice that answered back to him, Thorin breaking out in a smile when he met up with his oldest in the main hallway. The teenager had really shot up recently, and Frodo was having a hard time dealing with the joys of growing pains, voices changes, and his sudden clumsiness when he'd always been relatively quick and graceful on his feet. That Frodo had also almost doubled his food intake wasn't a problem though, given how full Bilbo liked their fridge and freezer to be.

"Hey." Frodo beamed a smile of welcome in Thorin's direction. "I was heading upstairs to get her Highness for dinner. We're eating outside since the weather's good. Would you like me to drop your stuff off in your study since I'm going up there anyway?"

"I'll do that and get her while I'm up there. Save you from her legendary wiles."

Laughing, and looking so much like Bilbo despite his coloring, Frodo gravely thanked his father for sparing him the arduous task. It was a sacrifice that would never be forgotten in the history of their family.

And then Frodo cocked his head thoughtfully and stated that he was scratching that since this just meant that he had to go outside and deal with the terrors that were currently roaming their lands. That was worse.

Reaching over Thorin gave his son's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "Be brave."

"You too."

Sharing a knowing smile the two parted ways, Thorin heading upstairs and down the familiar hallway to his study, stowing away his work before heading back down towards the room that had once been Frodo's, but was now home to the ruler of the house. She had mercilessly enslaved the other occupants of the house over the past four and a half years and knew it.

Opening the door Thorin stepped into the room, smiling automatically at the sight that greeted him.

"PAPA!"

Looking away from the mirror she'd been studying intently the youngest Durin beamed at her papa as she came running towards him in her ruffled princess dress, slightly weighed down by the countless necklaces, bracelets, rings, and clip on earrings she was currently wearing.

Picking her up Thorin whirled her around before settling her on his hip as he asked his baby girl how her day had gone, Silica immediately launching into a retelling of every minute of her day, including the fact that she'd watched 'Frozen' twice and had had three tea parties with Daddy.

And as she launched into a blow by blow retelling of what her stuffed animals had been up to recently behind her back Thorin found his gaze straying, as it sometimes did, to one of the three windows in his baby's room, the trim currently pink, as were the curtains that hung over the window panes.

In his mind though Thorin could see the formerly brown trim, the simple blue curtains, and a nearly completed circle cut out of the long ago replaced glass.

He could remember, in blood chilling detail, running into this room with his heart in his throat and terror unlike any he'd ever known ricocheting around inside of him since the moment he'd heard the sound of a gun going off. Knowing that the sound had come from his son's room. The room where Frodo and Bilbo were.

But Bilbo had been standing by the bed when he'd come bursting in, his love's empty hands reaching down to pick up Frodo, who was only half awake and appeared to have just been woken up by the loud, unfamiliar sound. Bilbo had turned to him with their boy in his arms and had jerked his chin in the direction of the window, and assuming Gollum could still be a threat Thorin had hurried over, his military trained mind taking in the cut in Frodo's window, as well as the broken pane above it.

He hadn't been able to see anything in the darkness, but Bilbo's quiet words, in French, informed him that Gollum should be directly below the window, the other man's tone making it clear that there was no question that the would be attacker would be there.

Informing security as to where they should be able to find their man, Thorin had left them to it and had walked over to gather his lover and their son into his arms, hugging them tight while Frodo continued to ask what was going on and how come his papa had a gun in his hand. Bilbo had stuffed his in his pocket and Frodo hadn't caught sight of it, thankfully.

Minutes later his men had reported back the news that they'd found the man's body exactly where Bilbo had said it would be and the fall hadn't killed him. A bullet to the head at nearly pointblank range had.

After Frodo everyone on the estate that night would have voted Bilbo the least likely to deliberately kill another human being, but as the man in question had stated, in a very matter of fact tone of voice no less, that one did NOT threaten his baby. It was as simple as that.

Afterwards they'd considered moving to a new house, building their own even, but in the end they'd decided to stay where they were, with Bilbo buying the thorniest climbing roses he could find to plant under the bedroom windows to insure that no one ever got in that way again.

And that their more mischievous children knew better than to try and climb down that way as they got older, which was entirely possible, unfortunately.

The sound of his daughter snickering in his arms bringing Thorin's attention back to her, Thorin deliberately made his voice growly the way she loved as he asked her what was so funny.

"You." She informed him slyly.

"Me, is it? And why is that, exactly?"

"Cause."

"Cause why?"

Silica just shrugged her shoulders, giving him her most innocent of looks. Which he wasn't buying for a minute, knowing her mischievous nature well by now.

"Well supper is ready, apparently. Maybe some food will jog your memory, hmmm?"

With a happy screech that grated the ears but still made Thorin smile because of her enthusiasm at the idea of food, Thorin informed her that when it came to her food she really was her daddy's daughter.

In most ways his baby girl was a Durin to her little bones, her obsession with jewelry already out in full force as Silica didn't consider herself dressed for the morning without at least five pieces of her costume jewelry on her person, not to mention her tiara and the Durin stubborn, 'my way or the highway' attitude that warned of dire consequences if she wasn't obeyed.

Thankfully today she was hungry enough not to insist that her papa let her dress him up for dinner, Thorin grateful for that since Bilbo was pretty much the only member of the household who didn't give in eventually, his husband somehow managing to always stick to his guns where their youngest was concerned. And thank heavens for that, since everyone of their acquaintance shuddered to think of how spoiled she'd be if the other males in her family were put in charge of disciplining her without Bilbo around to keep them all in line.

Setting his princess on her feet as soon as they were outside Thorin watched her run across the grass towards the picnic table Bilbo was standing by with Frodo, his husband of near a decade looking over in his direction as soon as he sensed him. But no smile for him, Thorin noted, the reason why being very apparent when the love of his life pointed his finger in the direction of the two children currently sitting nearby on the grass, backs to each other and…fuck, what had the done to themselves now?

Looking up towards the sky as he prayed for strength, years helping Dis with her boys having only just barely prepared him for the chore that was raising his two middle children, Thorin sighed and then walked over towards Merry and Pippin to find out why the two of them were now sporting very short haircuts and some minor face lacerations.

)

As he explained to his daughter that no, she couldn't have dessert first, Bilbo gave her a carrot slice to nibble on while shooting quick glances in the direction of his husband, who was currently towering over two of their children as the boys explained how they'd decided to try and make a fake volcano like the one Frodo had made for a science project recently. The weekend before had been Bilbo's birthday, with Gandalf getting the bright idea that they should set off fireworks, and their darling boys had helped themselves to a couple when no one was looking. And then the two had decided to put one in their volcano so that theirs would really erupt like something out of a disaster movie. That they'd decided to do their little experiment outside and not in the house was the only thing that had kept Bilbo from grounding them both until they were thirty.

Well that and he wasn't entirely sure that he and Thorin could survive living with the two for that long.

"They're probably telling him that losing most of their hair should be punishment enough." Frodo commented dryly, after taking a large gulp of his lemonade.

As that was one of the multiple excuses the two had offered up since he'd been forced to cut off his babies' beautiful curls, the eight and seven year old twits had set parts of their hair on fire, Bilbo grimly nodded and hoped that one of Thorin's lectures would suffice. Unlike their much idolized older cousins Merry and Pippin could be reined in and made to behave surprisingly well for decent periods of time if properly disciplined, though everyone was in agreement that the two would drive Bilbo and Thorin into earl graves once they hit their teens.

If the world didn't just self-destruct in self-defense first.

Catching sight of his daughter's hand inching towards the plate piled high with Nanaimo bars, Bilbo reached over to give one of her curls a warning tug, not surprised in the least when he was treated to a wide eyed look of confusion in return. His children had innocent looks down to a science.

"Not yet."

And knowing it was only a matter of time before she tried again, plus Thorin had been late getting home to begin with, Bilbo called for them to all come to eat, informing Merry and Pippin that they were not done discussing the volcano yet when they gave him relieved looks. That had their little faces falling a little, though they eagerly got to their feet and ran over to take their seats at the table on either side of Frodo. The two weren't allowed to sit side by side anymore at the table.

On the other side Thorin took his seat so that Silica was between them, insuring that they could cut up her food, reach things for her, and general keep her from starting a food fight with her brothers, since they'd taken such glee in introducing her to the concept recently.

Shaking his head over memories of that fun day, Bilbo couldn't help but smile softly at his boys regardless, loving them with every breath he took.

It was hard to believe that ten years ago it had been just him and Frodo, Thorin visiting as much as he could but not with them as Bilbo had struggled with being a single parent who was still desperately in love with a man he'd thought had never loved him back. Then a serial killer had targeted him, necessitating that he and Frodo come and live with Thorin for a while, and finally he and his love had gotten their heads straight where the other was concerned.

Bilbo knew many people, especially Thorin, wondered if it haunted him, the fact that he'd deliberately and cold bloodedly pointed that gun at Gollum's head and pulled the trigger. It didn't, and in a morbid sort of way Bilbo figured that he owed his happy marriage and children to the now long dead bastard. By threatening to harm those most important to him Bilbo had discovered just how strong he was, and that still gave him courage, as well as an appreciation for life and those he loved most.

Even when they were tempting him to pull every last curl from his head.

Chuckling at the thought Bilbo shook his head, still smiling as he looked over to meet his husband's gaze, Thorin having asked him what was funny.

"Life." Bilbo answered, reaching around their daughter to undo the purple and green bow Silica had no doubt covertly clipped into Thorin's hair when the man wasn't paying enough attention. Always a mistake around their children.

Giving him a grateful, rueful look, Thorin picked up his glass of lemonade and held it up in Bilbo's direction, Bilbo lifting his own glass as his eyes continued to hold Thorin's gaze.

'To you, My Love.' Bilbo silently communicated to his husband.

'To us.' Thorin's return gaze replied. 'Forever and always.'

The End


End file.
